A grumble

I'm in 'grumpy old man' mode, and feel like a rant. And the thing I'd like to take issue with is . . . the word 'issue'. Time was when people would write or speak of 'subjects', 'topics', 'matters', 'faults', 'questions', 'problems', 'difficulties' and so on. Now, every bloody thing - whether it's a software defect or a political crisis - is an 'issue'. It's a perfectly good word, of course; but why impoverish the language when there are so many alternatives?

While on language - why can't people say 'yes' any more? Nine times out of ten it's 'absolutely!' - which takes four times as long to say and is quite unnecessary.

Also, why has the verb 'to say' fallen into disuse? It's all "and he goes . . ." or "and I'm like . . .", neither of which seems to make any sense to me. Not that anyone is going to care what I think - or 'go'.

A final conundrum. Can anyone tell me why Clark Gable, speaking his last line in "Gone with the Wind" ("Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!") stressed the word 'give' instead of the 'damn'?