The thing about language is that it is one of the ways we separate
the "insiders" from the "outsiders." So a physics or other science
student who calls a graph a chart is quickly marked as an outsider,
and often treated as such, even by the teacher, just as a student
pilot or a naval cadet who called a chart a map will be so
identified, and it will be made clear to them along the way, that, if
they aspire to someday be an "insider" in that community, that they
will learn to use the insider's language, as well as the jargon.
And, of course, it is part of our task to make insiders.
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"Keep an open mind, but not so open
that your brains fall out."
-Attribution uncertain
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Dr. George Spagna
Chair, Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505