moridinamael comments on Avoid inflationary use of terms - Less Wrong

74 Post author: lsparrish 30 May 2012 08:31PM

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Comment author: komponisto 28 May 2012 02:59:28AM 12 points [-]

To sum up: Avoid making words cheaper and less effective for their specialized tasks. Don't use them for things where a better and more appropriate term exists. As your brain gets used to an idea, be prepared to discard old terms you have co-opted from other domains that were really just useful placeholders to get you started. Specialized jargon exists for a reason!

Excellent point, and excellent post. I expect to link here in the future.

Comment author: moridinamael 28 May 2012 06:47:46AM 4 points [-]

Words as mental paintbrush handles nicely complements this post. Human communication consists of trying to paint pictures for each other using words, and we tend to apply words broadly and loosely because narrowness and precision requires effortful scrutiny.