The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-04-13
Plain GeoIogy--A Plea for Plain English


sclentulc thought IN popular language
Dut tnat appeal WAS addressed 20 con
sumers u geOiogicaI ntera1ule, ana
snoud piODauy 90 better 10 make
similar appeal 10 some Oh the produc
ers OF geological literature.
Geology mas OF late been presented
10 the puDnc IN so many new aspecu
-commercial military political anC
even legal-that he WOuid be bold wh'
would attempt TO ada to IT'S modern
varieties; therefore ask here only q
return TO a primitive type, ana my
topic is plain Geology
am convinced that, AT its best SCI
ence Is snnpie-that the simplest al
rangement Oh Iacts that sets forth the
tru1h best ueserN es the term scientific.
50 the geology 1 plead LOT Is that which
states Facts in pam words-in Ian
guage understood by the many rather
than only by the few. Plain geOiogy
needs little qeiining, and i may state
my case best by trying to set forth the
reasons why we have strayed 50 far
away from the simple type.
First OF ALL 1 suppose we may as
well admit a certain liking for the
sound OF words. and the longer the
word the more sound il has. Especial
ly enjoyable is this mild form of hyp-
notism if both ideas and words are
such as to make us feel that we are
moving in the highest circles. At the
meeting OF the British Association this
year one physicist frankly explained
that the idea OF relatively is popular
because to most people ii is pleas
antly incomprehensible." 1t was
hardened reader of manuscript who
confessed that he liked to hear a psy-
biologist talk "Of course, 1 under
stand not a word he is saying, but it is
a noble and an inspiring spectacle to
see "A mere human being crack a whip
over whole vocabulary and see the
words jump up on their little red
chairs like so many trained seals" But,
as l wish to suggest doing tricks with
words may be more entertaining than
really useful.
Again, l fear lest in our writing we
lose sight of our audience, if, indeed |
some of us ever see at all the audience /
to whom we address our written re-
ports. The chief purpose of words is |
to convey thoughts, and unless the |
wave lengths of the words are right |
the receiving apparatus will utterly |
fail to pick up the thoughts. How cas-
lily we can underestimate the differ
ence in vocabulary between our audi
ence and ourselves was brought to my
notice recently when l heard a brother
geologist speak at a dinner to large |
group of oil operators, highly intell- |
gent but not broadly educated men, to |
most of whom the oil business was |
simply profitable side line l thought |
the talk unusually free from the tech |
nical terms so commonly used in the |
inner circle of our fraternity and was |
therefore surprised when a table COM
panion remarked that this talk didn't |
get across because il included so many
words not understood by the majority
of those who heard it. asked for
particulars, and he at once specified
periphery" a word the speaker had
repeatedly used in describing where to
test this or that oil pool. Half of
those people don't know what periph-
cry means" said this gentleman. who
knew the audience better than | did
and saw that he was right: and then
realized how much better that COM
mon everyday word edge" would
would have served-so many things
have edges and to so few do we need to
attribute peripheriesl And when we
come to think of it, we realize that
edge" is a sufficiently exact term to
apply to an oil pool, the position, shape !
and extent of which we know only in S
very general terms. q
This brings me to a third reason for
,ur use of highly technical language: c
Ne too often try to overdress our q
thoughts. Just as there is a some
what prevalent notion that clothes a
make the man. so we subconsciously e
believe that words make the idea We t
ollow the precept ITO be scientific. "
Use scientific terms" and in so doing t
We deceive ourselves. 1 do not wish to h.
'e unduly photographic in this anal f
isis. but to show true sympathy for a
hose practices i denounce, 1 confess p
hat l. too, have had the unhappy ex- 4
'erience of stripping the technical D
words from what looked like a good p
lied geological deduction only to find &
hat the naked idea was rather small tt
nd not my own. 1t is also a common a
experience to make the sad discovery Il
hat a piece of involved and obscure C.
writing is simply the product of round t,
bout reasoning or twisted thinking. "
)ur own words fool US, and uncon- c.
ciously we cover up with long words ii
r tangled rhetoric our lack of plain
linking. a
In picking my samples of the wordy p
ms of scientists. l naturally turn to d
he writings of my associates on the Ii
United States geological survey. not t,
ecause they are the worst offenders e
ut because they are sinners with II
'hom l am best acquainted Some of T
hese writer's after setting down a +;
phrase realize the need OF | ID