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Re: Most experiments are performed in labs

I cannot agree with Paul Johnson's "sermon" below concerning the
use of the word "lab" to mean an experiment rather than something that
performed in the laboratory. Most of the "labs" that are performed in
the student physics laboratory

On Sun, 09 Jul 2000 09:41:31 -0500 "Paul O. Johnson" <pojhome@SWBELL.NET>
writes:
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, but I have mounted a crusade in my classes to

convince my students to consider how their message will be interpreted
and be
unambiguous in their word usage. I am not easily deterred in this
Quixote-esque effort, and it often spills over into my social and
professional intercourse.

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. 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." 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.

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?

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.

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.

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

Paul O. Johnson