The adjective ‘shell-shocked’ is a largely recent journalistic invention, one that ignores the original trauma as a shorthand for the state of being confused or disoriented. It is not only carelessly used with respect to the original pain, it is also misapplied: the ‘shell-shocked’ often used tropes of the grotesque rather than of confusion to communicate their experience.

#EdmundBlunden ∩ #language ∩ #shellshock