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Cargo Cult Science (1974)

physics.brocku.ca

41–42 of 42 posts

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the GP hit the nail on the head with the phrasing "anyone who uses jargon unnecessarily ". Jargon is meant to make communication clearer and faster between peers. If it is making it less clear instead, there is something very wrong.

I once worked at a company that had so much jargon they published a glossary on their Sharepoint site, and a list of TLA's (Including 'TLA' itself as the joke goes...it means 'Three Letter Acronym' for the uninitiated. This is what I might call, 'treating the symptom of bad communication and not the cause'.

I think companies use Jargon to help instill a cult community on purpose. I just proposed the idea of creating such a glossary as you mentioned. I can't change a company with close to 100,000 people so I assimilate to get my pay check.

One company I was at had a jar in each conference room. When you used an internal name or acronym without first defining it, you had to put a $1 in the acronym jar. This was used to buy the team lunch. They had to abolish the policy as it was seen illegal to force such behavior. It worked very well while it lasted though.

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#42
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In science, we use a lot of words that were borrowed from Latin and Classical Greek. It is an interesting mental exercise, to imagine yourself trying to explain notions of modern science and artifacts of modern life to a person from, say, 2,500 years ago, whose native language was Latin or Greek. Not only would it be difficult to transfer our jargon - because the the original meaning of the word might have been diffe…

I'm confused by your use of the word "amber". Did you mean to write lepton or quark? I realize the irony in this comment.

The Greek word for 'amber' is ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron).
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