technical terminology in ordinary language

[Victor]

Hmm... Having hung around both lawyers and engineers, I can certainly
attest to *engineers* using "camshaft" as a rather sarcastic euphemism.
Don't know about mechanics... As for "dispositive" and "colorable",
they've been making their way into TV commentaries for some time now.
Still, I have hardly heard it in "everyday chatter" anywhere outside of
lawyer groups and academia. I suspect that most people who watch legal
analysis on FNC are unlikely to adopt these two in there normal usage.

    VS-)

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> Lee Beck on Facebook:
>
> Heard some lawyers throwing around the words "dispositive" and
> "colorable" in everyday chatter... Imagining how they would react if a
> mechanic used the word "camshaft" in a metaphoric way...
>
>
>

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