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Re: Most experiments are performed in labs



At 09:41 AM 7/9/00 -0500, Paul O. Johnson wrote:
I have searched in vain during the past several weeks for a message on this
list in which the word "lab" was used with its correct meaning.

I know that most readers will dismiss my objection as a nitpick from the
depths of geezerhood...

Indeed.

Language is about communication.


I point out to my students that their meaning is often misinterpreted
because the English words they use mean different things to different folks.
As physicists, we should try, therefore, to avoid such ambiguities and
misunderstandings by agreeing that specific words have one and only one
meaning.

Nice try.

Language, like every other social phenomenon, is in continuous flux. If you
want to communicate successfully you have to go with the flow, not try to
stem it. In our school the usual word is "practical" for a practical
exercise (after all they are not always or even often "experiments" in the
strict sense of the word :)) but when I write to phys-l I call them labs
because then everyone will know what I mean.

Many years ago when I was a student teacher I spent 15 minutes explaining
some stuff to a 14 yr old English kid from East Anglia, in a class that I
was visiting. I was of course using standard English, with received
pronounciation. I felt that I'd really done a good job until the teacher
said to me "Do you know, that boy hasn't understood a single word that you
said".

I have included an eight-page glossary in my lab experiments
textbook to assist the students (and other faculty) in this endeavor.

The word "lab" is a case in point. It appears to be almost universally used
nowadays by both students and faculty to mean "experiment."


This would seem to me to be an excellent reason to go on using it in that way!

We all will
agree, I trust, that an experiment is an investigation of the relationship
between variable quantities conducted by accurately measuring values of the
quantities as they change in time or place. Experiments are usually
performed in a laboratory.

It seems clear then that not all "labs" are experiments!

Calling an experiment a "lab" reflects careless word usage and sets a bad
example to our students. If we call what we are performing a "lab," what,
then, do we call the room we are performing it in?

That's also called a lab. What's the problem? Have you ever had a cook cook
your dinner?

Some will say that this trend is due to laziness; we are simply using a
one-syllable word rather than a four-syllable word. Others claim that such
concerns are out of place in informal communications such as on Phys-L,
Physhare, and Tap-L. But I lean toward the view that it is really a sign of
imprecise thinking, and of not considering the impact of poor word usage in
informal as well as formal writing.

I agree absolutely that clarity in thinking is fundamental in education as
everywhere else. I myself am fossil when it comes to language. I still
understand that "To travel hopefully is better than to arrive" is quite
different from "To travel, hopefully, is better than to arrive". I noticed
this year that "I couldn't care less" has become "I could care less"! With
e-mail lists volumes of colloquial malapropisms are being propagated ad
infinitum. "I'd of..." instead of "I'd have..." I watch with horror, but I
know that in a few years people won't understand my correct English.

So what do I want to say? That the best use of language must reflect a
balance between "maintaining standards" and keeping up with usage. The
criterion is always effective communication.

God knows I am not a language person in Dave Barry's league. English was one
of my least appreciated courses in college. But many years of grading
student papers, along with a stint of editing manuscripts submitted for
publication, has convinced me that we must pay more attention to it.

I loved every English course I did, and enjoy the many linguistic insights
that come from teaching multilingual international classes.

Since the English teachers in our schools cannot get the job done by
themselves...

Perhaps they have a different agenda. But I admit I enjoy the occasional
bit of one-upmanship. In Italian the English words "in tilt" are used with
the rather odd meaning of "brought to a halt" as in: "The city was in tilt
because of the storm". My colleague in the English department was very
puzzled as to how this expression had arisen, whereas it was immediately
obvious to me!

, those of us who care about accurate communication must leap in
and help guide our students toward better word usage and better spelling.
And as always, we ourselves learn more when we teach a subject than we ever
do as students.

The down side of this is that questionable syntax and poor spelling in notes
from our contemporaries tend to jump out at us, to the detriment of their
message.

End of sermon..

Amen.

Mark


Mark Sylvester
United World College of the Adriatic
Duino, Trieste
Italy