Disproportionate measures?

Wise Words: disproportionate

Last week, I focused on the phrasal verb skill up. Today, I thought I’d turn my attention to an adjective that’s been in the news recently. Lufthansa pilots went on strike this week, forcing Germany’s flagship airline to cancel flights and its customers to make alternative travel arrangements. Lufthansa called the strike “disproportionate”. This means that, according to Lufthansa, the damage the pilots would cause to the company bore no relation to the pilots’ demands — or the reasons for the dispute.

The strike action had been scheduled to run for four days but was called off after less than 24 hours. Maybe the disproportionate action worked, or maybe the pilots realized that their demands were disproportionate. It's hard to say.

Last year, the adjective “disproportionate” was in the news again on a regular basis. Israel’s attacks on Hamas were called “disproportionate” by many — including, perhaps surprisingly,  Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. Innocent civilians were killed, injured or rendered homeless in the attacks. Supporters of Israel’s military action argued that the constant fear of a rocket attack on Israeli territory made the attacks proportionate, even if the military force that was used far exceeded anything Hamas had ever thrown at them.

In a downturn, you’re likely to hear the adjective "disproportionate” more often. It's one of the adjectives that people use when they want to criticize something ("inappropriate", "unfair", and "unreasonable" are three others). For example, if staff feel that cost-cutting measures are unfair or if the cuts seem to affect one profit centre more than another, you’ll hear people shout, “These cuts are disproportionate!”

You can also put this adjective to good use. If you want to ask for a raise, tell your boss that “the current salary is disproportionate to my work and responsibilities”.

Good luck with getting that raise!