Words that can be Jargon in some contexts

[Sleepflower]

I'm not sure about what counts as Jargon.

There are some words which are jargon in one context, but are non-jargon in others. For example, to a physicist, the term "massive" is jargon, (meaning something has mass) but to everyone else, it means extremely large.

If we use words like "distribution" but in the lay-person's context such as, distributing goods, will the markers just see the word and assume it is jargon and mark us down for it, or will they take the context into account?

I ask because I had a comment on my assignment stating that I shouldn't have used the word "distribution", but a non-mathematical friend looked at my script and said she understood what I had said.

 

[Zebedee]

It's context dependent. 'Distribution channel' (to refer to IFA, tied agent, etc) is jargon. 'Normal Distribution' is jargon.

One 'non-mathematical' friend catching the gist of your sentence doesn't mean it's free of jargon. Most intelligent people will get the point of a sentence even if there are a couple words they don't know (or don't know in that context). For this exam just play safe, if you think it might be jargon then it probably is.

While the physicist in your example will be aware of both the precise and colloquial uses of the word 'massive', he or she will hopefully avoid both when writing a letter to an aunt (or insert alternative contrived CA3 scenario here). Why risk confusion when there are non-ambiguous alternatives available.

 

[bystander]

If in doubt, try to think of a different word. Eg instead of distribution in terms of selling, say selling instead. It may help you to compile a list of alternatives as you go thru' the course to save too much thinking in the exam.