The Death of the English Language: The Misuse of The Word 'Tragedy'

An aquaintance of mine in Chicago wrote an article about the misuse of the word 'tragedy' for CBS Chicago's 670 The Score site. The piece has received a fair bit of a backlash since it concerns the recent death of IRL driver Dan Wheldon at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past Sunday.

Tim Baffoe / CBS Chicago

While any accidental death can be considered unfortunate, as the author points out, using tragedy to define it is an innacurate application of the word. The article is well written and concerns itself not with making a controversial statement, but with simply conveying the fact that tragedy has become one of those often abused terms.

Enjoy the article and if you will, seperate yourself from any emotional attachment to an unfortunate death, and simply understand the writer's perspective.

Thanks for reading.