 any
common words and phrases have been appropriated from
science and technology
to perform expressive services in other realms. None
more so than
center
of gravity, which has a large number of
applications -- from the
literal
(predicting the stability of an automobile in a curve),
to the practical
(selecting the site for a new school in a residential
neighborhood), and
to the metaphorical (finding a compromise in a
range of political
opinions).
Techie terms -- some antiquated, some even obsolete -- make for nifty catch-phrases and metaphors... amplification, benchmark, blue-print, carbon footprint, catalyst, closing the loop, cross-section, denatured, elasticity, embryonic, epicenter, fault line, feedback, flip-flop, gasket, gear ratio, greenhouse gases, high voltage, incubator, kilohertz, knee of the curve, law of averages, litmus test, volatility, magnification, megahertz, megawatt, naked eye, nominal values, ozone layer, ratchet, real-time, resonance, seismic shift, short circuit, solid state, spectrum, steady state, telescopic, tetraethyl leaded, third rail, torque, traction, trajectory, transient, transparency, triangulate, vacuum tube, volatility, x-ray, zilchNot all techie-terms have been plucked-and-placed (dragged-and-dropped) into common usage. Still, they and others are out there, ready and waiting.
address space, alphanumeric, beta-test, binary search, bit string, buffer, cache, chip, click-through, client, code walk-through, compiler, crash recovery, cursor, daughterboard, debug, dot, download, drag-and-drop, finite automaton, fixed point, flip-flop, floating point, floppies, gigabyte, glitch, hacker, hard-drive, heap limits, help screen, icon, homepage, interface, kludge, least recent usage, log-on/off, mark-up language, master controller, mega-whatever, memory mapping, monitor, motherboard, multi-tasking, nanosecond, network protocol, nibble, object modules, on-line, open loop, operating system, overflow, overwrite, peer-to-peer, pixel, plug-and-play, point-and-click, priority interrupt, pull-down menu, random access, read-only memory, upload, sample data system, scroll-bar, server, slave device, source code, splat, spooling, stack pointer, state machine, swapping algorithm, symbolic assembler, toggle, touch-screen, user support, virus, wildcard, worm...meanwhile, politicians and their speech writers might take delight in the lexicons of technology, reaching for rhetorical heights, say, in aviation's argot... aileron, advection fog, airfoil, airspeed indicator, altitude, angle-of-attack, angle-of-climb, aspect ratio, autopilot, barrel roll, block time, boundary layer, carry-through, checklist, climb out, cloud ceiling, cockpit, compass heading, control surface, control tower, cowl flaps, crab angle, crosswind, cruise power, dead reckoning, de-icing boot, delta wing, dew point, direction finder, down draft, drag coefficient, elevon, empennage, engine nacelle, engine out procedure, firewall, flight plan, flaps down, flight deck, flying blind, fuel on board, fugoid oscillation, fuselage, gear down, glide path, g-loading, graveyard spiral, ground effect, groundless, ground speed, hangar flying, headwind, holding pattern, homing in, induced drag, instrument panel, lift-to-drag ratio, jet stream, landing gear, lapse rate, loftiest, lift coefficient, manifold pressure, mayday, nosedive, parasite drag, pilot-in-command, pitch authority, pitot tube, power curve, pressure ratio, prop wash, pull-out, pushing the envelope, pylon, radar blip, relative wind, roll out, rotor blade, rudder pedal, runway elevation, seat-of-the-pants, service ceiling, side-slip, skid correction, sky-writing, snap roll, soul-on-board, squall line, sound barrier, sponson, stabilizer, stall speed, storm cell, straight-and-level, tach-time, take-off, tail rotor, tailspin, tailwind, tarmac, temperature gradient, thrust-line, toe-brakes, transponder, turbulence, undercarriage, updraft, usable load, vertigo, virga, vortex generator, washout, waypoint, wheels up, windscreen, wind-shear, wind-sock, wind tunnel, winglet, wing tip vortex, yaw, zero-zero, zoom...or higher still by adopting phraseology made available by space-speak... A-OK, apogee, blast-off, boost phase, burn-out, count-down, dynamic pressure, docking collar, down-link, dynamic pressure, explosive bolts, eyeballs out, fail-safe, geostationary orbit, g-force, go for staging, gravity-assist, heat shield, hypergolic relationship, launch pad, lift-off, manipulator arm, mid-course maneuver, orbital insertion, payload bay, perigee, pressure lock, reentry parameters, rocket science, roll program, solar panel, space cadet, telemetry, trans-lunar injection, throttle-up, thruster, tracking network, splash-down, up-link, vector, weightlessness...while nabbing notions from nuclear nomenclature... alpha particles, atom smasher, beta particles, chain reaction, China syndrome, containment vessel, critical mass, cyclotron, fallout shelter, fast-breeder reactor, fission, fusion, gamma rays, Geiger counter, ground zero, half-life, kiloton, linear accelerator, megaton, meltdown, moderator rods, neutron bomb, overkill, radioactivity, thermonuclear
axle, centrifugal force, evaporation, friction, gyroscopic motion, leverage, melting point, path of least resistance...as adolescents, beginning with car talk... accelerator, brakes, camshaft, carburetor, clutch, compression, crankshaft, differential, drive shaft, gas tank, high-test, hubcap, ignition, internal combustion, crankcase, journal bearing, lube-job, muffler, oil pump, parking brake, ping, piston rings, push rods, rack-and-pinion, radiator cap, retread, rocker arms, shock absorber, spark plug, supercharger, tappet wrench, timing chain, universal joint...as students in elementary science classes... acid test, buoyancy, cell nucleus, chlorophyl, condensation, density, electrostatic charge, escape velocity, least common denominator, magnetic poles, mutation, natural selection, optical wavelengths, opaque, osmosis, path of least resistance, protoplasm, reflection, surface tension, throughput, vaporize...or as undergraduates... absolute zero, attenuate, ballast, Brownian movement, chloroplasts, coalesce, discrete logic, deductive logic, determinism, entropy, gas diffusion, ionization, hypergolic, hypothetical, linear algebra, mathematical induction, mitochondria, null hypothesis, orthogonal polynomials, parameter, permeability, precession, protozoa, refraction, relative humidity, specific gravity, tectonic plates, translucent, triboelectric effect, universal constant, variable, volatility  nstitutions
of governmental are famous for resisting changes in
policy directions (inertia)
if not retarding progress (viscosity).
Technical disciplines
have provided vogue expressions for characterizing a
campaign (traction,
momentum, meltdown), complaining about the quality
of mass media (least
common denominator), disparaging slow-wittedness (narrow
bandwidth),
and decrying rage (going ballistic).
Which invites the question, what would
ever get started
or stopped -- or accomplished -- in society without
the linguistic contributions
of Techie Talk?
|
f
course, language adoptions travel a two-way
street. As lamented 
ost
people are quite comfortable using technical
expressions in their figurative
senses, whether acquired as precocious juveniles...