Hi.
Grateful thanks to all of you for writing back about this.
For those who wanted to know, it's to do with the final part of my psych
Master's statistics course. I have to write a critical review of a paper
about weight loss maintenance (Klem et al, 1996, for the scientists among
you).
There has been some discussion about the usage of words about weight, like
'normal', 'natural' and 'obese'. The main topic has concerned whether
'obese' is derogatory and ethically unsound, or an acceptable clinical term.
Since the paper is from the US, asking Americans about the day-to-day use of
the word gives me an informed idea about whether it's use would have upset
the overweight participants, even in the clinical setting.
It appears that the term is used in much the same way as in the UK, i.e.
more in the clinical sense than in common use, and more as a descriptive
term than an insult.
The question is therefore answered and you might have scored an extra mark
or two for me.
Many thanks to all who replied.
David Hill
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