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Plurals of \'difficult\' proper nouns such as \"90s\"
Jun 20, 2019 15:22
4 yrs ago
7 viewers *
English term

quality of life vs standard of living

English Social Sciences Education / Pedagogy Heritage and education
I'm considering using "standard of living" as a synonym for "quality of life", mainly for stylistic reasons, to avoid the repetition of "quality of…" twice in the same sentence in close proximity.
I'd appreciate hearing some opinions about this decision, for example, whether it is justified or not, and to what extent the two expressions are synonymous.
Responses
3 +3 Avoid
4 +7 see explanation
5 quality of life or standard of living
Change log

Jun 24, 2019 08:07: Christine Andersen changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (3): JohnMcDove, Daryo, Christine Andersen

Non-PRO (1): Yvonne Gallagher

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Discussion

neilmac (asker) Jun 24, 2019:
PS: @Björn Don't get me started on "wellbeing" or "wellness"... :-)
neilmac (asker) Jun 24, 2019:
Final cut First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for chipping in here, the discussion has been really helpful. Pax Björn, I was aware that the terms were not really synonymous, I was merely thinking of using them that way to avoid repetition of "quality" in close proximity. And, pax Daryo, I was always taught that unnecessary repetition is poor style in most formal written texts, and at my age it's a bit late to throw that particular baby out. Anyway, I now have an initial rough draft of the translated article ready and I think the sentence in question now reads quite smoothly, despite the repetition:
"...an improvement in the democratic quality and quality of life of people in different countries...".
Thanks again to everyone for your contributions, I appreciate them all.
Björn Vrooman Jun 23, 2019:
Neil There are a lot of websites explaining the differences between these two terms:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/quality-of-life
https://www.britannica.com/topic/standard-of-living
https://www.investopedia.com/video/play/standard-living-vs-q...

If you're desperate for a synonym, wellbeing is a much better a choice. See this discussion about wellbeing, QOL and standard of living:
https://createquity.com/2015/12/quality-of-life-wellbeing-an...

I know we have some colleagues who are trying to avoid repetition under any circumstances.

However, this will only cause what someone once termed monologophobia:
"Symptoms: The patient now writes: 'The wife gave me a piece of apple pie, then I obtained another slice of the pastry containing the round fleshy fruit, and then I secured another portion of the all-American dessert.' As is evident, monologophobia is usually accompanied by synonymomania."
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-monologophobia-p2-1691767

There are other ways to remedy the situation, e.g., ellipsis or rewriting, and that is what Fowler and others recommend, AFAIK.

Best
Daryo Jun 21, 2019:
"Avoiding repetitions" is the most nonsensical / feeblest excuse for deliberately mistranslating a text!

If the whole text is about Mr Dupont, are you going to keep changing Mr Dupont's name throughout your translation "in order to avoid repetitions"? Makes perfect sense, sure ...
Charles Davis Jun 20, 2019:
I expect there are some people, perhaps quite a lot, who feel that a high QOL begins and ends with a high SOL: the object of life is to be wealthy, to put it crudely. And I'd also say that QOL, for many, is more than health; reasonable health is a prerequisite, but QOL is what you do with your life. However, these are quibbles around the edges.
Charles Davis Jun 20, 2019:
@Neil Just to say I puzzled over this myself a while back, for exactly the same reasons as you, and ended up admitting to myself that they're not interchangeable (though obviously not entirely unrelated, since low SOL will tend to reduce QOL). I agree with Lincoln and Mark on the distinction.
neilmac (asker) Jun 20, 2019:
Thanks ... to everyone for the comments so far. I'm leaving this translation for a few days now to concentrate on another more urgent job that just came in. I'll check back in here next week sometime.

Responses

+3
26 mins
Selected

Avoid

I suppose linguistically they could be used interchangeably, but in practice they have gained rather specific connotations, and are likely to feel out of place if used outside of their typical usage scenarios.

Quality of life is typically used in a health & well-being context, and is associated with how the subject feels.
Standard of living is typically used in an economic context, and is associated with the subject's environment.

I'm sure they are used outside of these contexts, but the use of 'quality of life' in healthcare and 'standard of living' in an economic sense is so pervasive that I actually have a hard time thinking of other scenarios.

In fact, the Wikipedia article of "Standard of Living" discusses its relation with quality of life. The article isn't great in terms of sources, but the logic holds up. They can be related, but they are not synonymous.
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis
1 hr
agree Tina Vonhof (X) : So why would you suggest we avoid using them?
3 hrs
The poster asked whether he could replace one with the other.
agree JohnMcDove : Merriam-Webster seems to corroborate this - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quality of life https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/standard of livin...
11 hrs
disagree Daryo : these two terms can not be used interchangeably - zillion of repetitions or none, makes no difference.
12 hrs
agree D. I. Verrelli : The answer given here doesn't propose using the terms interchangeably, but correctly identifies the fact that the constituent elements look — prima facie — like they could be synonyms.
4 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Your initial explanation confirmed my own musings. Cheers:-)"
27 mins

quality of life or standard of living

I think that the same term should be kept in both places no matter how close they are.
The terms are synonymous but if you refer to one and the same thing it's better to use one term. I do so.
Peer comment(s):
agree JohnMcDove : I agree on keeping the consistency. Not that these are synonymous, even if they are closer than "an egg and a chestnut" (as we say in Spanish). However, not knowing the full context and amount of repetition, I would consider the anaphoric value here.
11 hrs
disagree Daryo : these terms are nowhere near synonymous
12 hrs
Something went wrong...
+7
39 mins

see explanation

The terms are not synonymous.

QOL includes qualitative factors such as happiness. SOL is purely quantitative and concerns wealth and material comfort.
Peer comment(s):
agree jccantrell : This is my understanding. QOL includes work-life balance, how rewarding (in a non-monetary sense) your job is and other such difficult to quantify factors.
17 mins
agree Charles Davis
1 hr
agree Tina Vonhof (X)
3 hrs
agree JohnMcDove : Even if Oxford does't elaborate much on these nuances. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/quality_of_life https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/standard_of_living
10 hrs
agree Daryo : exactly!
12 hrs
agree Christine Andersen : For me they are very different in meaning: standard of living means affluence, technology, quantity, but not always quality. It may bring stress and other disadvantages. Quality of life is just that, and includes being satisfied with simple things.
3 days 16 hrs
agree D. I. Verrelli
4 days
Something went wrong...
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