There was an excellent column by Douglas MacKinnon (was the press secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole) about the academic rhetoric from a sociologist at the USDA. This person and the USDA have decided that the word "hungry" will no longer be a part of their lexicon. It will be replaced by "very low food security." Why? The reason is just ridiculous, in my opinion. MacKinnon quotes the academic from USDA as saying, "...lacking a widespread consensus on what the word 'hunger' should refer to, it's difficult for research to shed meaningful light on it."

Can you believe it? Do you know what the word "hunger" refers to?

While I couldn't find MacKinnon's excellent article online, I did find this one from the Washington Post.

I found MacKinnon's article particularly striking because he apparently grew up in abject poverty as a child and was homeless a number of times. He said, "Unless you have experienced it, you cannot fully comprehend the pain and humiliation that comes from going days without food. That the USDA would choose to insult the intelligence of these desperate Americans and belittle that pain by telling them that they are not hungry, but simply experiencing very low food security, is simply obscene."