[ricket]

My mom has Alzheimer's disease. I either sympathize with your situation, or if you were using it as an expression, I find the misuse a bit offensive. Particularly in this context for me, it brings up a painful memory of one of the first signs of Alzheimer's in my mom, when she called me because she had entirely forgotten her computer password.

As a sidenote to anyone reading this, I really appreciate that the Hacker News community occasionally posts and upvotes Alzheimer's articles. I read every one that I see.

Anyway, I beg that you might not use "Alzheimer's" as an expression for forgetfulness, just as you might avoid calling someone "ADD" when they multitask to a fault.

[q3k]

On the other hand, the Internet is a multicultural and multinational community. It does make some sense to shed the typically American “right to not be offended” when you browse the Web.

Just as much as you ask for your culture to be respected, respect other cultures by acknowledging their more offensive and black humour and not taking everything personally.

[mgraczyk]

It's worth noting that the author appears to be in Greece. Assuming he's a non-native speaker, it doesn't really make sense to be "offended" by his misuse of the term.

Maybe a better way to put it would be "We don't typically use 'Alzheimer's' to refer to forgetfulness because it brings up negative emotions for some people."

[oxioxi]

Greek language is more about emotion than content. Hyperbole is used to emphasize meaning. I cannot forget he first time I went to Greece and my aunt kissed me, bit me, and said she was going to eat me. I was 6. I was petrified. It is common in Greece to express disappointment affectionately by saying ' I am going to kill you'. It is our cultural ignorance in the US that makes Americans easy targets for ridicule. If we project ourselves as a superpower to the world, then where indeed are our superpowers of understanding?

[ttsiodras]

It's considered 100% normal in everyday speech here in Greece, to use the name of the disease as an excuse when you forget something. I had absolutely no intent to offend anyone, and my heart goes out to the people fighting this disease - and the ones taking care of them.

I guess it's yet another cultural difference I was not aware of...