Some readers may have noticed that in this post discussing problematic terms of art I don’t use the phrase “magic words.”
I’ve long used “magic words” as a label for dysfunctional terminology; see this 2010 blog post. But while writing my post on terms of art, I realized that although “magic words” has real snark value, it’s otherwise unhelpful. So into the dustbin it goes.
I also suspect that I won’t have use for the word “jargon.” As a label for terms of art, “jargon” has no diagnostic value.
