Science textbooks are not always easy to read. Complex ideas can be difficult to explain. It is important to carefully and precisely define a concept. Sometimes a big word is necessary, sometimes many big words are necessary; sometimes too many big words can spoil the broth. Here is an example from a Chemistry text:
"A theoretical prerequisite of qualitative analysis was the acceptance of a corpuscular philosophy: for if the theory of chemistry is epigenetic and permits real transformations of forms and qualities, then analysis is meaningless. The adoption of a preformationist corpuscular hypothesis implied that chemically invariant candidates were available for identification routines." *
Huh?
'Corpuscular' - I can't understand why this sexy word has dropped out of everyday English.
* From "The Norton History of Chemistry" by William H Brock, pg 178.
3 comments:
Have you perhaps invented a word here with "preciosity"? Perhaps the first step to world fame and fortune. I will of course be expecting my agent's fee for managing your career.
I use corpuscular all the time... It's part of trying to keep sexyness going in literature.:)
Dear Bro,
Perhaps, when we were younger, I made things up. But I've outgrown that phase. It really is a real word - I know this because I had to look it up in the dictionary when it was used in a real article that I was really reading. Really.
Love, Sis.
Hi Rjurik,
I'm pleased to hear that you're trying to keep the sexyness in literature. And corpuscular is a great word to use for this - at the begining it sounds like corpse, then it has pus in the middle. Lovely.
Nicole.
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