Nerd talk
These are perfectly good words in their native sci/tech/biz context, but risk being pretentious when used utilized in day-to-day conversation Note: Many of these terms are more precise than their common-use matches. That’s okay. The whole point of this list is that increased precision does not compensate for decreased accessibility to a non-technical audience From Statistics From Mathematics From Medicine From Latin From Chemistry From Biology From Physics From Computer Science “Core dump” instead of summary (“Okay, here’s a core dump of everything that happened at the party”) From Electrical Engineering From General STEM From Economics From Project Management From Social Sciences From SciFi ------- Older ones (from the Space Age/Cold War), many of which were misused enough that their meanings have changed in common parlance:
A list of sci/tech/biz words nerds use to signal that they’re smart (AKA the Nerd Urban Dictionary) These are perfectly good words in their native sci/tech/biz context, but risk being pretentious when used utilized in day-to-day conversation Note: Many of these terms are more precise than their common-use matches. That’s okay. The whole point of this list is that increased precision does not compensate for decreased accessibility to a non-technical audience From Statistics "Priors" instead of assumptions; (if you want to get really nerdy, you can say “posteriors” instead of…
related reading
- Ricki Heicklenrickiheicklen.com
- please don't say things are increasingly happeningnotebook.bdmcclay.com
- Taboo Your Words — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Jargon File catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg262.txtcatb.org
- Precision In Technical Discussionsrtpg.co
- Neologismsmaggieappleton.com
- Taboo Your Words — LessWronglesswrong.com
- what makes for a good bit?substack.com
- What It Means To Be An Intellectual (Aaron Swartz's Raw Thought)aaronsw.com
- Fucking Goddamn Basics of Rationalist Discourse — LessWronglesswrong.com
- talksmis.pm
- Friends don’t let friends use “cf.” | Scientist Sees Squirrelscientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com