View Full Version : Scientific phrases defined


SewerStarFish
Jul 30, 2003, 03:49 PM
I have notice that quite a few scientific minds are here at Civfanatics and thought that they might need some help when reading those scientific papers. Here are 15 common phrases and what they really mean:
1 "It has long been known that..." "I haven't bothered to look up the original reference but..."
2 "Of great theoretical and practical importance" "Interesting to me"
3 "While it has not been possible to provide definite answers to these questions..." "The experiment didn't work out, but I figured I could at least get a publication out of it"
4 " The W-PO system was chosen as especially suitable to show the predicted behavior..." "The fellow in the next lab had some already made up"
5 "Three samples were chosen for detailed study..." "The results of the others didn't make sense"
6 "Accidentally strained during mounting..." "Dropped on the floor"
7 "Handled with extreme care throughout the experiment" "Not dropped on the floor"
8 "Typical results are shown..." "The best results shown"
9 "Agreement with the predicted curve is Excellent.../Good.../Satisfactory.../Fair..." " Fair.../Poor.../Doubtful.../Imaginary"
10 "It is suggested that...it is believed that... it may be that...""I think"
11 "It is generally believed that..."
"A couple of other guys think so too"
12 "It is clear much additional work will be required before a complete understanding..." "I don't understand it"
13 "Unfortunately, a quantitative theory to account for these results has not been formulated..." "Neither does anybody else"
14 "Correct within an order of magnitude..." "Wrong"
15 "Thanks are due to Joe Glotz for assistance with the experiments and to John Doe for the valuable discussion..." "Glotz did the work and Doe explained what it meant"

thedirk
Jul 30, 2003, 05:40 PM
:lol: These are hilarious.

barron of ideas
Jul 30, 2003, 06:50 PM
Its a shame they aren't original, at least not original with Mr Fish. (can I call you Sewer?)

Sims2789
Jul 30, 2003, 10:31 PM
Denise Richards, Hale Barry and Angelina Jolie's scientific names: Biggimus Breastimus

Perfection
Jul 31, 2003, 12:02 AM
They are into polygamy?!?!?!

puglover
Jul 31, 2003, 10:28 AM
:lol: :rotfl: That's good!

WillJ
Jul 31, 2003, 10:48 AM
:lol: Great!

"There is much debate among the scientific community about this issue..." "I am the only smart guy around here..."

"Studies have shown" "Some guy's book has shown..."

"We are still in the process of testing" "We can't get this damn thing to work"

"Four out of five scientists agree" "That's right, there's only five scientists"

"This may or may not be of great scientific importance" "Why the hell am I doing this?"

Rout
Jul 31, 2003, 11:05 AM
Brilliant, i recognise most of those!
Here's some i use often:
"and so to conclude" "Im fast approaching my word count limit"
"considering further practical applications.." "Im nowhere near my word count limit"
"...further analysis.." "This was terrible i need to start over from scratch and not 'accidentally strain' the sample"
"within the limitations of the study" "Yeah the experimental design stinks"
"Concordant with published data" "..cos i fudged the damn results"
"As predicted.." "..after the experiment"
:)

SewerStarFish
Jul 31, 2003, 07:29 PM
WillJ and Rout :lol:

Here's an oldie

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/1+12.gif

Yaniv
Aug 03, 2003, 02:51 PM
Here are some I thought of:

"The most fascinating and interesing aspect of all: "We gotta keep you listening to this s*** somehow"

"The lab tests clearly show": " Look at the tests for about twenty minutes and maybe you'll see something"

"After much debate, we have agreed that.." "We fliped a coin and it turned out heads"

If these are worth anything' i'll try to come up with more.

The Person
Oct 31, 2003, 04:59 AM
Never unerestimate the stupidness of scientists... I did until i saw this thread:).