'They discussed controversial issues around sex, violence, and censorship'.

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'They discussed controversial issues around sex, violence, and censorship'.
Is 'around' correctly used?

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Type: Question • Score: 7 • Views: 1,136 • Replies: 12

[+3] - roger - 05/18/2013Around here, when people talk around a subject, they are mostly avoiding it. My vote goes to 'about'.

@tanguatlay,

Off hand I think I would had used "center around" instead of just around.

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@tanguatlay,

no -- use about instead...

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@tanguatlay,

I would advise you to disregard the last two posts, as I believe them to be misleading and wrong.
"Around" is fine in this context.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Quote:

I would advise you to disregard the last two posts, as I believe them to be misleading and wrong.
"Around" is fine in this context.

LOL you might be right however for some strange reason I do not think that your comments are driven totally by your opinions on the best possible words choices.

1 Reply

Around here, when people talk around a subject, they are mostly avoiding it. My vote goes to 'about'.

1 Reply

@BillRM,

Bill, you are wrong about that, and your paranoia is showing.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Quote:

Bill, you are wrong about that, and your paranoia is showing.

Could be as guns nuts do tend to be paranoia after all........ Drunk

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@roger,

Quote:

Around here, when people talk around a subject, they are mostly avoiding it.

This is also the case hereabouts, but the original sentence

Quote:

'They discussed controversial issues around sex, violence, and censorship'.

does not lead the reader to the conclusion that they are avoiding talking about anything. "Around" is a better choice imho.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

'They discussed controversial issues around sex, violence, and censorship'

What's wrong with poor little, plain little, humble little 'of'?

'They discussed controversial issues of sex, violence, and censorship'

1 Reply

@contrex,

Well.....

"issues of" means about eh same as "issues about", and I think "issues around" is more general. I still like it better here. There is a subtle difference. Maybe it's a matter of personal preference.

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Well, I think that using 'around' in that way is a bit casual/informal and a bit US English. What about 'controversial issues [to do with] [concerning] [related to] [connected with] sex, violence and censorship'? (Note the lack of Oxford/Harvard comma there.)

I may feel this way about 'around' because in BrE certainly, we can say we talked 'around' a topic when we mean we never actually addressed it, we skirted around it.

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@tanguatlay,

Quote:

'They discussed controversial issues around sex, violence, and censorship'.
Is 'around' correctly used?

They discussed sex, violence, and censorship.

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'They discussed controversial issues around sex, violence, and censorship'.

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