Because of my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome I get partial dislocations of joints (“subluxations” – original meaning) frequently and in some joints every time they’re moved. Trust me, these are nothing like the ones the chiropractors tell you you have. If I have my arm in a sling and you ask why and I say “I subluxed my shoulder pretty badly last night when I rolled over in my sleep” then I’m likely to go stroppo if you respond that you have 8 subluxes in your back your chiropractor told you so and what am I whinging about?

Within the EDS patient and medical community to “sublux” a joint is understood to mean a partial dislocation event and treated with due seriousness. When I accidentally use the same term outside this community with somebody familiar with the chiropractic re-definition of it, I get frustrated. It wastes lots of precious spoons to have to backtrack and explain no you don’t mean the same thing that the chiropractor said.

And then my linguistics major pops up in my head and explains that language is evolving and descriptive not prescriptive and I get all confused about how I’m feeling!

r