ABSTRACT
L anguage is always metaphorical and words carry more baggage than appears at first glance. The words we use to discuss the acquisition of reading are not excepted from this general principle. For instance, the word remedial is used by different individuals in different ways and to mean different things; and the several meanings, as weIl as the historical development of these, deserve so me exploration. Each of the meanings involves an entire metaphor and attendant consequences. Exploring these metaphors is illuminating.
