Friday, September 26, 2008

Specialty Language

Certain professions require a set of words that only those who are "in" understand. Think ER doctors using terms to describe the symptoms, tests, and results of patients. Or lawyers in the courtroom using jargon that deals with laws, previous cases, and random clauses. Even in theatre, we use terms that few others understand when we talk about lighting design or costuming, for instance. And God only knows what those strange engineering terms mean.

But it's not all profession-specific. It's clear that there is a need in various occupations for such specific wording. But think about nicknames, inside jokes, code words, even music... they all have the ability to stop certain people from being able to understand the conversation. What's point? Just to be exclusive? Because that sounds terribly mean. Not that I can talk, my friends and I definitely had tons of code words so that eavesdroppers would be clueless. And it's not a phase, it clearly lasts a lifetime. C'est la vie.

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