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Wed, 11 Dec. 2002 -- Media Matters No. 20:
A word is a word is a word -- or is it?

Today's Media Matters begins a look at the words we use to talk about our research when we work to disseminate it beyond our own research colleagues.

Scientists, researchers and professionals all have sets of words they use routinely. The words seem clear enough, we think. Some terms are specific to one's particular profession. Others are terms that are common to the scientific community. Scientists and researchers use words in very precise ways, to mean one thing only -- and not another.

The problem with these words is that, while they communicate specific concepts clearly to colleagues, they often are thought of as jargon by outsiders.

When our goal is to reach the public with information about our research findings, the use of such words often erects an unnecessary barrier.

Journalism professor Carl Sessions Stepp of the University of Maryland gives a simple explanation by talking about what he calls "banana words."

Think of words such as "prison," "sidewalk," or "shark," he says. These are sometimes called "banana words" because, like the word "banana," they conjure up specific, shared images for most of us.

By contrast, consider words such as "proposal," "facility" and "problem." These are sometimes called "fuzz words," "blob words," or "second-degree words," he says, because they convey only abstractions. Although certain scientific terms are meaningful and clear to researchers, they fall into this category when they are used in press releases meant for editors and reporters in general-interest media.

Readers can understand banana words standing alone, but fuzz words require other words before making sense.

Although to a researcher a "banana word" may seem to denote fuzzy thinking, in fact it communicates more clearly to people who need only a general understanding of your research, whereas a word that may seem to you more specific in fact seems to be only a "blob word" to reporters and editors.

Especially in the first few sentences of a press release, says Stepp, one should strive for the highest possible percentage of banana words and images.

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