Re: [Paddlewise] Terminology and Communication

Michael, 

I guess, I made a bit of a mistake in my reply. While editing it before 
sending I deleted the paragraph where I said that I was agreeing with you.
I was just trying to expand on it and make the point that the responsibility 
lays with those that have the uncommon usage to make their point clear when 
they are not talking to someone who has not already agreed to their limited 
usage. 

Michael Daly writes:
> I guess my point was not made clear at all.  My fault.  Bob's examples 
> differ from the specialist's when viewed with the specialist's terminology.
> That is, while he sees flying as including both flying and gliding, the 
> specialist differentiates the two.

Then the specialist had best not tell the non-specialist that they are 
wrong. The specialist is wrong to do so if all the people in the 
communication have not previously agreed to the limited terminology. 

> So to is John trying to differentiate between surfing and planing, to a 
> degree that most people won't.  While the difference is irrelevant for
> many, to the specialist, it is significant.

And this is often the problem with specialist communication. They will take 
a term that is in common use and try to define it. They should come up with 
a term that does not already have a common usage. 

> That does not make Bob wrong, nor does Bob's generalization make
> John's comments wrong.  They are simply looking at things using
> the same terms with different degrees of refinement.  Given the
> points that John is trying to make, we must consider the discussion
> from _his_ point of view, otherwise we'll miss the issue entirely.

Agreed to a point. The problem is when John tells Bob that he's wrong. This 
has happened many times on this list that things heat up over different 
terminology and people are actually agreeing. 

It would also be inappropriate for me to tell John that his definitions are 
wrong. They are the definitions that are used in his field and appear to be 
well defined. I think it would have been a better choice to have used other 
terms than to try and limit the definitions of words already in common 
usage, but it's too late for that now. 

> I personally look forward to discovering the significant differences
> between surfing and planing from the expert's perspective.

I wholeheartedly agree! I would love to find out WHY there is even a 
difference if the result is what I perceive to be the same. 

> My apologies to any who took offence.

I certainly didn't take offence. I was meaning to agree with most of what 
you said. 

Dave
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