<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 20 Aug 2018, at 17:07, Chris Barker via Python-ideas <<a href="mailto:python-ideas@python.org" class="">python-ideas@python.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class="">> Summary: I look at the phrase 'strike a balance' in different languages, <br class=""></span><br class="">
It is interesting that you picked up on "strike a balance" which has <br class="">
been a standard English phrase for a very long time rather than the much <br class="">
more resent, (and itself a form of jargon), "dumbing down".<br class="">
<br class="">
The other point is that the use of Jargon is often as a form of <br class="">
shorthand so as to avoid excessive verbosity, (or long windedness).<br class=""></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We are (maybe) mingling two issues here -- there is an important distinction between idiomatic expressions ("striking a balance", "dumbing down") and technical terms (jargon).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">If you want to make it easier for non-native english speakers to understand -- minimal use of idiomatic expressions is a good idea. They really don't serve much real purpose, other than making the prose more colorful and friendly (to those that understand it). Sometimes a bit of brevity is gained, but not much.</div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>The technical writing course I went on as an engineer years ago recommenced "Controlled English" in documentation.</div><div>Its good for none english speakers and the lack of colloquial expression means English speaks are not miss lead.</div><div><br class=""></div><div>As you say this is nothing to do with jargon.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Technical jargon, on the other hand, can be very helpful for precision and compactness. </div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>It also means you will understand other people doing the same activity. Be they musicians or programmers.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">(side note -- are all domain-specific technical term "jargon"? I tend to see "jargon" as having a negative connotation -- specifically that it isn't required for technical specificity. That is, "jargon" is language that is unnecessarily domain specific)</div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>I found this definition:</div><div><br class=""></div><div>"J<em class="">argon</em>. A special language belonging
exclusively to a group, often a profession. Engineers, lawyers, doctors,
tax analysts, and the like all use <em class="">jargon</em> to exchange complex information efficiently.</div><div><em class="">Jargon</em> is often unintelligible to those outside the group that uses it."</div><div><br class=""></div><div>Not all group members remember to avoid jargon when talking to people outside the group.</div><div>If you are on the outside looking in at the people that will not explain in plain english you could well consider jargon as a bad thing.</div><div><br class=""></div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I think it's pretty important to use the common domain specific terms in introductory texts -- how else will folks learn them? So I make a distinction between *using* a technical term, and *introducing* a technical term.</div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>Yes.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In fact, in my PR on Jonathan's doc on None, I deliberately introduced the term "Singleton" -- not because it was necessary to understand the idea at hand, but because people are likely to encounter the term elsewhere.</div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div><br class=""></div><div>Barry</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">-CHB</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div>-- <br class=""><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><br class="">Christopher Barker, Ph.D.<br class="">Oceanographer<br class=""><br class="">Emergency Response Division<br class="">NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice<br class="">7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax<br class="">Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception<br class=""><br class=""><a href="mailto:Chris.Barker@noaa.gov" target="_blank" class="">Chris.Barker@noaa.gov</a></div>
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