Wednesday, October 19, 2011

What scientists say - what people hear

Posted by dkuehn at 12:06 PM
The Discover Magazine blog shares some thoughts on the difference between the words scientists use and the way the public understands them. Most of these are relevant to economic science too.

3 comments:

  1. Well, scientists could change their word choice. Of course a big part of creating any profession (or grouping of any type I guess) is also creating your own special vocabulary by which to monitor your profession, promote clarity in exchange, initiate outsiders, etc.

    Anonymous Basterd

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  2. So was I the only one confused as a kid by the usage of "want" to mean "lack"?

    ReplyDelete

  3. Scientific term: "trick to hide the decline"
    Public meaning: "devious concealment of disconfirmatory data"
    Better choice: "removal of outliers"

    ReplyDelete

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