Re. Jargon, neologisms and misused words

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     Some of the computer phobia discussion has created
     a new thread on terminology, and indeed, choice of
     terminology has some interesting applications to
     this thread. Here's a related topic that bears
     further discussion:

     1. It's not necessarily a bad idea to create
     neologisms when the alternative is to use long
     descriptive passages. The example that sticks in
     my mind (sorry, forgot the poster's name) was the
     new word "mouse" to replace "pointing device" or
     worse yet "vaguely ovoid rolling device with
     multiple buttons on which to click" <grin>

     2. It's generally a bad idea to use a word with a
     broadly accepted meaning in a wholly new sense.
     The example we've been debating was "displays",
     but there other examples abound (e.g., witness our
     "shrink wrap" thread a while back).

     3. Words that become jargon seems to be broadly
     acceptable in the first case, because they don't
     confuse our audience, even if they might require a
     little learning; poor or dangerous jargon arises
     in the second case.

     Opinions?

     --Geoff Hart    @8^{)}
     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

     Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of
     our reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.