In response to Dave Birren's comments on jargon, Peter Smith comments,
"Firstly, language, as a living thing, evolves. I recommend Bill Bryson's
very enjoyable book "Mother Tongue" as one perspective on this. He
explains and illustrates how English has developed differently in the UK
and the US. As a Brit who now works in the US, I had to cope with such
terms as "If I had my druthers," in my early days here."
This reminded me of a comment by, I believe, George Bernard Shaw, the the
United States and Great Britain were two great nations "separated by a
common language."
I experience the same thing in this group. We are a diverse group of
people with widely varying experiences, and we all talk as if we all have
the same experiences. Our descriptions of life sometimes have the feeling
to me of the blind men touching the elephant. They are all touching the
same animal, but there descriptions bear ne resemblance to each other.
This thinking has prompted me to share more "data" with all of you so that
we can test our values and opinions against a common base. I sent an
article for example regarding unemployment, and another on when teams work
and when they do not work so well.
There will be more. I hope it generates some coalescence of viewpoints.
-- Rol Fessenden LL Bean 76234.3636@compuserve.com