Moab Moab <[email protected]> wrote:
> You are proposing that a "name change" will make non-listeners into > listeners, I don't think that's gonna work at all. > > I think that any non-listening scientists that would read the a paper > published with the new name will immediately figure out that "it's plain > old cold fusion **** again, but now they're pushing it to us with yet > another name". To them it would only appear as if an attempt was made to > hide the topic behind a new name. > I agree. I would add that the many names that have been proposed and are now used were never intended to disguise the nature of the research, like a euphemism. This is a myth. No one expected these new words to sway the skeptics. I know this because I was there -- I took part in the discussions proposing these new terms. People began calling it LENR because they thought that was more accurate technically. Martin Fleischmann in particular did not like the term "cold fusion." It makes no difference what you call something. It is what it is. All words are technically inaccurate. As linguists say, the word is not the thing. Nearly all words are based on earlier concepts applied to new ideas. This is been true since the beginning of language. For example, the word "understand" is derived from standing under something. To understand is to grasp that which underlies the thing, metaphorically. Many new words begin as metaphors. Most computer vocabulary was invented since 1945. It derives from two sources: 1. Old words applied to new concepts such as "register." 2. New words made up for the purpose such as "software" or "input." Most of these words use older words compounded to form new meanings. A few of the new words are whimsical, such as "byte" which derives from the word "bite" (what you do with your teeth). It relates to "bit" which is loosely derived from binary digit but actually just means a small thing, just as it does in the older definition. Completely new words without any roots in existing language are extremely rare. One example is the word "Google" which was invented by a child, and which was accidentally spelled wrong in the website name. In English, 19th century neologisms tended to be derived from Greek and Latin roots, such as "telephone." 20th and 21st century neologisms are usually derived from Anglo-Saxon words. - Jed
