Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Centrifuge in "World Book"



At 06:57 AM 5/21/01 -0500, John Clement wrote:
Heavy is commonly used to denote things of greater mass,

OK, that's definition (1a).

while the usage of heavy to denote density is less common.

That's definition (1b).

I still don't think it is "outrageous" to use an English word in its
second-most-common meaning.

I would submit that an article on science should use consistent
terminology, and "where possible" use words which are easily understood.

Alas the number of interesting concepts greatly exceeds the number of
English words. Many words are heavily overloaded. They are easily
understood in context, even though they would be ambiguous out of context.
-- stalling a motor vehicle
-- stalling an airplane
-- clear writing
-- clear varnish


This particular case is one where the use of the word heavy is reinforcing a
misconception,

I think the main misconception here is the notion that "heavy" has only one
technical meaning.

This is an instance of the more general rule: those who want to
misunderstand can always find a way to misunderstand. There's not much
authors can do about that.

The real standard for authors is whether those who want to understand will
be able to understand. In this case, I would say yes. Those who care
about the distinction between heavy(1a) and heavy(1b) can easily figure out
which was intended.