problem

   an unwanted and often irreversible condition

   The word is used in many phrases to conceal truth or inadequacy. Thus a cash problem in an individual is a shortage of money, and not a superfluity or a lack of pockets to put it in. In a company a cash flow problem means that it is overtrading or insolvent. A communication problem means that nobody understands us or we don't understand them. A crossword problem means we cannot complete the crossword (a problem problem?) although a problem crossword is one we may expect to solve. A drink problem is alcoholic addiction by a problem drinker:

    ... the fact that she was a 'problem drinker'... (Styron, 1976)

   However, a drinks problem at a party would indicate only that you might be running out of supplies. A heart problem is a malfunction of that organ, with other organs or bodily parts similarly identified according to your disability.

   The onset of menstruation may herald a woman's problem days, but if she suffers from a women's problem she may have a disorder of the womb or of some other part exclusive to her sex. Staying with health, the obese may have a weight problem:

    If you are destined to be fat, food makes you fat. But I have never had a weight problem. (I. Murdoch, 1978)

   A society which includes many races may face a colour problem, while a black person may be said offensively to have a pigmentation problem:

    ... wants to send anyone with a pigmentation problem back to Islamabad. (Sharpe, 1979)

   Politicians profess to face innumerable problems, not all of their own making. Thus Hitler was tested by a so-called Austrian problem, which he resolved by having Austria's chancellor murdered and then by invading the country.