Friday, February 03, 2006

Some words should be removed from the English language

I am busy reading a scientific paper and suddenly am stopped in my tracks by the inappropriate use of a word. That word is milieu. I hate that word when it is used in the scientific context. I am not keen on it in other places either, but it is just not in context in a scientific article! Any more than repertoire is. It seems that scientists are more and more trying to add floral language to their publications, just stick to the ordinary words that fit the subject and don't fanny around adding fancy words to the sentences. Another one I hate is ameliorate, when it is used in the wrong way. I recently read a paper where they talked about ameliorating the culture media that they were using. ARGH!!! It is a clinical word, used when the quack, I mean, consultant, has made the patient better. They are deemed to be ameliorated. It was originally a French word, but I digress. Just don't use floral language when you are trying to be scientific, it doesn't make you look more intelligent, in fact quite the opposite.

So, I should get back to it, I am in the middle of a grant application, trying to ameliorate my ideas into a fundable project, a large repertoire of ideas floating in the milieu of my brain.

There you go.