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Original poster

To HATE the phrase "lived experience"?

557 replies

ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 06:36

Pet peeve incoming:

By definition, experience is lived! You can hardly have an experience without living it, fgs! And what's the opposite of lived experience? An experience that you've had, yet haven't lived? It's complete nonsense. It's used to sound falsely clever when an argument is weak, like "In my personal experience." Well, of course your experience is personal! You would hardly say, "In my neighbour's experience, I find Florida too cold in December."

And it's officially wrong, because it's a tautology. Like "top-floor penthouse."

I don't know whether it's the innate stupidity of the phrase or the fact that it's a linguistic fad that annoys me the most.

"stamps off"

OP posts:
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Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:55

I think it's fashionable in the context of social work, where I wish it would stay. I accept that it's used in that field, even though such overblown and grammatically incorrect language doesn't make the field look respectable.

It just needs to stay out of the lay vernacular.

OP posts:
whippy1981 · 03/03/2025 21:53

Whu · 03/03/2025 06:49

They are different. For example, you could do be a highly qualified and experienced teacher of autistic students however if you are not autistic then you don’t have ‘lived experience’ of being autistic. You have a lot of experience and knowledge though but these are different things.

Even if you are autistic you never have 'lived experience' as a teacher. Parents of autistic kids will tell you that. You will always have no experience.

Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:52

tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:48

@ThisFluentBiscuit
The OED is published by Oxford University Press who publish a many dictionaries under various titles to serve different audiences

Lived experience appears in at least one of these.

Which OED dictionary does it appear in? Do they publish a social work dictionary? Wouldn't surprise me if it was in a specialist dictionary since the gruesome phrase seems to have got its feet thoroughly under the table in social work. Or do you mean that the phrase is in a textbook or glossary published by Oxford University Press?

I am talking about a lay context and the OED is THE world's authority on the English language. And it's not in there.

OP posts:
tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:48

@ThisFluentBiscuit
The OED is published by Oxford University Press who publish a many dictionaries under various titles to serve different audiences

Lived experience appears in at least one of these.

Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:43

DrunkOnYourAwe · 03/03/2025 21:42

This

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Seeing/hearing it used repeatedly in a lay context, I suppose.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:42

Elle771 · 03/03/2025 21:39

I have experience working in prisons and with prisoners... I have no lived experience of being a prisoner

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If you take out "lived," the sentence is exactly the same. "Lived" adds nothing and makes the sentence sound overblown.

How else would you have experience of being a prisoner apart from living the experience?

If I had been a prisoner, I would say "My experience of being a prisoner was..." I wouldn't say "My lived experience of being a prisoner was..."

OP posts:
DrunkOnYourAwe · 03/03/2025 21:42

Mydustymonstera · 03/03/2025 06:48

In health and social care, it has been a more respectful way to refer to those with what we used to call service user experience. Someone who has been through some, usually adverse, experience. Often but not always, someone who is now in a place where they are using that experience to help others.

it differentiates from work or professional experience or academic expertise, it is lived experience.

i wonder if you know someone who is using the word in a different way?

This

Elle771 · 03/03/2025 21:39

ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 06:44

OK, so you're saying that it's possible to have an experience that you haven't lived through?

I have experience working in prisons and with prisoners... I have no lived experience of being a prisoner

Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:27

marthasmum · 03/03/2025 21:16

OP…I’ve got no words. Are you just on a mission to wind people up?

I would like to point out thought, since you are so obsessed with language, that midwives don’t nurse anyone. Midwifery is a separate profession to nursing and your casual use of this word proves to me that you don’t know much about many of the professions you’re criticising.

?? I have not mentioned midwifery.

No, I'm on a mission to stamp out bad grammar and incorrect usage - at least in lay contexts.

Don't get me started on the modern lack of hyphens and readability access.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:25

LoztWorld · 03/03/2025 21:18

As has been explained countless times, it’s jargon that is useful to people working in certain fields. It’s a shorthand that saves time. If you don’t work in those fields you don’t have to worry about it.

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t technically make sense. Plenty of specialist language doesn’t.

I am getting the sense that OP doesn’t actually care about the linguistic element at all, and actually has some issue with the politics of the entire idea of lived experience being of particular value in certain areas.

That's the entire point, I do have to worry about it, because it's infiltrated lay speech and it's as infuriating as hell with the way it falsely elevates someone's experience over another person's, when used in lay contexts. I. Keep. Reading. It.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:23

LoztWorld · 03/03/2025 21:18

As has been explained countless times, it’s jargon that is useful to people working in certain fields. It’s a shorthand that saves time. If you don’t work in those fields you don’t have to worry about it.

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t technically make sense. Plenty of specialist language doesn’t.

I am getting the sense that OP doesn’t actually care about the linguistic element at all, and actually has some issue with the politics of the entire idea of lived experience being of particular value in certain areas.

I don't, I object to such a stupid phrase being in lay use.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:22

tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:16

@ThisFluentBiscuit

And there are many other official voices that consider it incorrect English.
Who?

See above.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:22

tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:08

Cambridge dictionary
The organizationn^ has a stronggfocuss on the livedd^ experiencee^ of mentall^ illnesss^.

We are ignoringg^ the actuall^ liveddexperiencess of the poorr^.

All the candidatess^ for the jobb^ have livedd^ experiencee^ of the asylummprocesss.

From LSE:

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/12/09/what-social-scientists-talk-about-when-they-talk-about-lived-experience/

Really OP you are arguing against academics, scientists, medical people and dictionaries. I really do think you need to step down. You really do not have the authoritative voice on this.

The Oxford English dictionary does not recognise the phrase. Neither does Merriam Webster, which is the American equivalent of the OED. So out of the English-speaking world's three major dictionaries, only one includes it, the Cambridge Dictionary. The OED is generally considered the authority.

Plus, 71% of members of the Medical Journalists' Association don't like the phrase because it's a tautology.

The OED is by far the largest assembly of the English language ever created, and that idiotic phrase, lived experience, isn't even in there. See screenshot.

To HATE the phrase "lived experience"?
OP posts:
LoztWorld · 03/03/2025 21:18

As has been explained countless times, it’s jargon that is useful to people working in certain fields. It’s a shorthand that saves time. If you don’t work in those fields you don’t have to worry about it.

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t technically make sense. Plenty of specialist language doesn’t.

I am getting the sense that OP doesn’t actually care about the linguistic element at all, and actually has some issue with the politics of the entire idea of lived experience being of particular value in certain areas.

tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:16

@ThisFluentBiscuit

And there are many other official voices that consider it incorrect English.
Who?

Jellycatspyjamas · 03/03/2025 21:16

Really, and what qualifies you to make that assertion?

marthasmum · 03/03/2025 21:16

OP…I’ve got no words. Are you just on a mission to wind people up?

I would like to point out thought, since you are so obsessed with language, that midwives don’t nurse anyone. Midwifery is a separate profession to nursing and your casual use of this word proves to me that you don’t know much about many of the professions you’re criticising.

Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:11

Jellycatspyjamas · 03/03/2025 21:10

Excellent, please come and teach us how it’s done.

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It's not a skill you can teach, unfortunately. It's just common sense, which has been educated out of many people.

OP posts:
Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:10

tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:08

Cambridge dictionary
The organizationn^ has a stronggfocuss on the livedd^ experiencee^ of mentall^ illnesss^.

We are ignoringg^ the actuall^ liveddexperiencess of the poorr^.

All the candidatess^ for the jobb^ have livedd^ experiencee^ of the asylummprocesss.

From LSE:

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/12/09/what-social-scientists-talk-about-when-they-talk-about-lived-experience/

Really OP you are arguing against academics, scientists, medical people and dictionaries. I really do think you need to step down. You really do not have the authoritative voice on this.

And there are many other official voices that consider it incorrect English.

OP posts:
Jellycatspyjamas · 03/03/2025 21:10

ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:09

I wouldn't need all these degrees and faux-complexity to figure out who needs what services. I'd know within ten minutes of talking to someone at home if they needed services or a kick up the arse. 🤭 I'd be the most efficient social worker any council had ever seen.

Excellent, please come and teach us how it’s done.

WiddlinDiddlin · 03/03/2025 21:09

I have experience of stuff relevant to my work..

Some of it is second hand but very closely involved, observing, consulting, being in a clients home.

Some of it is lived experience of that same thing in my home.

Both are useful, but not the same.

Original poster
ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 21:09

I wouldn't need all these degrees and faux-complexity to figure out who needs what services. I'd know within ten minutes of talking to someone at home if they needed services or a kick up the arse. 🤭 I'd be the most efficient social worker any council had ever seen.

OP posts:
tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:08

Cambridge dictionary
The organizationn^ has a stronggfocuss on the livedd^ experiencee^ of mentall^ illnesss^.

We are ignoringg^ the actuall^ liveddexperiencess of the poorr^.

All the candidatess^ for the jobb^ have livedd^ experiencee^ of the asylummprocesss.

From LSE:

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/12/09/what-social-scientists-talk-about-when-they-talk-about-lived-experience/

Really OP you are arguing against academics, scientists, medical people and dictionaries. I really do think you need to step down. You really do not have the authoritative voice on this.

tipsandtoes · 03/03/2025 21:03

mellongoose · 03/03/2025 07:08

The OP is, in fact, correct.

Then you'd better go tell the research scientists and historic philosophers

It is a category of qualitative research and has been used since the early 19th century

surreygirl1987 · 03/03/2025 21:02

ThisFluentBiscuit · 03/03/2025 20:53

How on earth would you know what lived experience I have and don't have? And you can't argue with my lived experience. That's the point - I've lived it, and only I. Therefore what I say about my lived experience goes. That is my truth.

Hey, maybe there is a use for those daft phrases after all!

Edited
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The irony... 🙄

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