I recently read an interesting article in the Chronicle about the use of circumlocutory language and phrases to mesmerize common people  in academia and industry. It is very amusing to note that some people like to use complex words to describe their work designation or even their research to common people.

I was wondering, am I guilty of the same thing? and what is the psychology of these people behind doing that? Well, the use of esoteric words in scientific community is very common. It seems as if scientists feel that the concepts and facts they learned after years of tireless pursuit should not be presented in a simplified way to the common people. As  if they think: why that person will be able to understand so quickly what took me years to understand? Or may be they think: If I present a simplified common-man’s-language description of my research they might not think highly of my research or they may not consider me as a smart guy!

I do not know exactly what transpires such behavior. However,  Often listening to the lectures of “Khan Academy” in youtube ( where they use common man’s language ) I get the feeling that, O, so that was it!, and that teacher in my school made it look like so difficult! He could have simply said this!

What do you think?