What is jargon, and how can the average person understand it?
Jargon is technical language that uses a lot of Greek and Latin. Some jargon is necessary, but most of it is unnecessary. Every profession has its own jargon, which maintains the mystique and exclusivity of that profession. In college, my chemistry professor told us that scientific jargon helps to keep the profession small. In medical school, I was overwhelmed with jargon. But eventually, I realized that jargon is just a complicated way of saying something simple. In fact, sometimes jargon is a complicated way of covering up ignorance. For example, doctors often describe a disease as idiopathic or agnogenic. These two complicated terms simply mean that the doctor does not know the cause of the disease. If you want to understand jargon, look up the words in a dictionary and study their roots. As you become familiar with these roots, jargon will no longer be a mystery.
