One problem is that people get so comfortable with the lingo of their own particular field that they don’t realize what it sounds like to outsiders. A good reminder is to read somebody else’s shoptalk. Here’s an example from the field of ecology: “Different spatial and temporal domains of causality combine to produce local community patterns.” How many non-ecologists would keep reading an article that started out like that?

I have trouble communicating the importance of this to some of my colleagues. They think that a “dumbed down” version of something does not come off as informed and authoritative. I always say, if people can’t understand something, they stop reading.