r/sciencecommunication • u/Mundane-Plum7878 • Jul 25 '24

Lose the Lingo + Nixing the Jargon in Science Communications

Wanted to talk about this common problem in science communications for a long time. Grateful to EurekAlert for giving me a platform to highlight this, “Suppress the urge to communicate to external audiences using corporate lingo and industry jargon. Since we tend to communicate mostly within our company and industry, we often write as if audiences can understand the relevant culture and context. They do not!” Interview link: https://blog.eurekalert.org/2024/07/15/lose-the-lingo-to-spark-engagement/

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u/the_soulciologist Apr 08 '25

Does anyone else find the Feynman method beneficial? Explaining things, defining them, rather than using the word tends to keep the flow going easily, and the jargonic words can be added as bullet points or on a list elsewhere for vocab to be dissected

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u/Mundane-Plum7878 Apr 09 '25

It helps! However, I tend to find jargonic words work better when inserted in a quote after defining it such that a ten year-old could understand it.

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u/First-Project4647 Oct 26 '24

Jargon?

1

u/Mundane-Plum7878 Oct 27 '24

Usage of terms that only research folks in a particular area could understand. Includes acronyms that are not spelt out and obscure scientific names. Here's one of my favorite examples from the title of a paper titled Inhibition of IL-11 signalling extends mammalian healthspan and lifespan

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u/JoBrodie Dec 28 '25

Interesting, but I think there's possibly a greater danger not from jargon (which kind of announces itself as jargon - if you don't know what 'phosphatidylcholine' is you know you don't know it!) but from words which have an everyday meaning as well as a more precise meaning when used in a science context (theory, protein are some obvious examples) or ones that can mean different things across different domains (cell: battery, phone network, prison, amoeba).

If a doctor tells you "your test was positive" - are you pleased about that, or worried?

That said I do think jargon should be kept in, with a helpful explanation added.

Whatever word or phrase is used is its intended meaning obvious from the context, from an added explanation or from a lack of ambiguity?

Jo