Something I see a lot, working where techies fraternise with fashionistas, and studying a subject where mathematicians rub up against humanities-types, is someone from one discipline getting hold of terminology from another, and then proudly using it in every borderline-tenable circumstance. Every ludicrous disaster scenario senior management dreams up becomes a "failure mode". Brian, who's only doing Econ 202 to make up points for his Philosophy degree, proudly announces his subjective preference as a "dominant strategy", because it's obviously the best.
I've got this special in-group indicator word, they think, so I'm going to use the sweet merry hell out of it, and it will make that group respect me because it's in their language. If only they knew.
My personal bugbear is the word "intermittent" sneaking into the general lexicon of computer users. Most of the time they mean "sporadic", and the distinction is obviously an important diagnostic criterion. I've given up on fighting it by this point; I may as well argue with the sea.
Such terms that worry me especially are ones that aren't rigorously defined, but also come packaged with a probably-inappropriate explanatory narrative. For example:
GENT: I'm sorry; I've already asked once, but will you please be quiet? Other people are trying to watch this, and your incessant talking is just rude.
LADY: Are you negging me?
GENT: What?
LADY: "Negging". The pick-up artist technique where you subtly insult me in casual conversation in order to lower my self-esteem, make me seek validation, and ultimately aid in seducing me.
GENT:What!? No! I just want you to shut up!
LADY: Oh, you totally are. I'm going to tell all my friends about the creepy guy who tried to pick me up in the cinema.
GENT: You're mental.
LADY: There you go again...
Being an insufferable smartarse who loves the sound of his own keystrokes, I'm amazed that no-one has yet accused me of "mansplaining", but in the event that someone does, it doesn't really exist to communicate to me that I'm doing something objectionable. It exists to communicate to other people why my correspondent is dismissing me. Whether that dismissal is warranted doesn't really enter into it, but having the word makes it that little bit more likely to happen.
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Date: 2012-05-17 03:44 pm (UTC)I've got this special in-group indicator word, they think, so I'm going to use the sweet merry hell out of it, and it will make that group respect me because it's in their language. If only they knew.
My personal bugbear is the word "intermittent" sneaking into the general lexicon of computer users. Most of the time they mean "sporadic", and the distinction is obviously an important diagnostic criterion. I've given up on fighting it by this point; I may as well argue with the sea.
Such terms that worry me especially are ones that aren't rigorously defined, but also come packaged with a probably-inappropriate explanatory narrative. For example:
GENT: I'm sorry; I've already asked once, but will you please be quiet? Other people are trying to watch this, and your incessant talking is just rude.
LADY: Are you negging me?
GENT: What?
LADY: "Negging". The pick-up artist technique where you subtly insult me in casual conversation in order to lower my self-esteem, make me seek validation, and ultimately aid in seducing me.
GENT: What!? No! I just want you to shut up!
LADY: Oh, you totally are. I'm going to tell all my friends about the creepy guy who tried to pick me up in the cinema.
GENT: You're mental.
LADY: There you go again...
Being an insufferable smartarse who loves the sound of his own keystrokes, I'm amazed that no-one has yet accused me of "mansplaining", but in the event that someone does, it doesn't really exist to communicate to me that I'm doing something objectionable. It exists to communicate to other people why my correspondent is dismissing me. Whether that dismissal is warranted doesn't really enter into it, but having the word makes it that little bit more likely to happen.