Dr. Jargonlove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Technobabble

Why would somebody write "the biota exhibited a 100 percent mortality response" when he really meant all the fish died? Sometimes people use jargon to be taken seriously, sometimes to be clear and precise, sometimes to not work so hard, and sometimes to deliberately evade and confuse. This essay humorously examines the various motivations for using jargon in both good and bad communication.