Questions tagged [terminology]
This tag is for questions seeking or discussing a term (or terms) belonging or peculiar to a science, art, or specialized subject (e.g. linguistics, mathematics, physics, biology, finance, theatre, music, philosophy, astronomy, medical, nautical etc.). Consider adding [single-word-requests] and [phrase-requests] tags also if relevant.
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Is "work routine" the correct term for a strictly defined work process?
The place I'm currently consulting at has defined a strict set of workflows to follow when different types of incidents happen.
To me, "workflows" are more guides that have been created to ...
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What does one call the left and right sides of a building, in order to fix a point of view?
With shields, we have sinister and dexter, meaning the bearer's left and right respectively.
With ships, we have port and starboard, which are the left and right sides as viewed from aboard facing the ...
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Term for a single piece of jargon
I believe there’s a three-word phrase that means “a specific piece of jargon, used in a different sense than it’s normal meaning.” It’s something like word of practice or word of field. It feels more ...
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What’s the term for the common part of coordination?
What do you call the part that is common to a list?
Example:
I buy apples, bananas and citrus fruit.
can be expanded to three sentences
I buy apples.
I buy bananas.
I buy citrus fruit.
How do you ...
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What is the origin of the term "post" as in "post a journal to the general ledger"?
I understand what it means to post a journal, but I'd love to know the origin of the term.
I've not been able to find an explanation from Google. My intuition is that it might refer to a historic time ...
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Origin of “best-in-class”
This snippet was taken from the Stack Overflow Blog, featured 29 February, 2024
Defining socially responsible AI: How we select partners
[…] Together with Stack's strong developer community and ...
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What's a pithy term to describe what a spy does when he/she socializes with a target to get information?
I'm working on a roleplaying game, and I want a pithy name for a skill that modern intelligence agents call "elicitation of intelligence." Setting is the interwar period in Europe (between ...
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What is the metric name or designation for nominal ½″ copper pipe in the various English dialects where metric dimensions are used?
I hope this question is as on-topic as this question about distances.
I need to know what people call nominal ½″ copper pipe (the stiff unbendable kind used in domestic plumbing) in English dialects ...
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Word for the final instance of awarding a perpetual trophy
We have a perpetual trophy that has been awarded for almost four decades. The Award is being retired, and presented to a worthy recipient one last time. How do I refer to this instance of the awarding?...
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What kind of word is "Brother" or "Sister"? [duplicate]
Some Christians use "Brother" or "Sister" before referring to someone, and usually they prefix the word before their name (e.g. Brother Aaron).
I am asking what the use of this ...
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Why ternary not ternal?
Why is is the base-2 numeral system called binary, the base-3 one called ternary, when base-8 is octal and base-10 is decimal?
The different suffixes, -ary vs -al, are what I am concerned about.
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Is there a term for when people use a definition from a different context?
This type of thing happens a lot online.
People will say something like "strawberries aren't actually berries technically" or "tomatoes are actually fruit" when people are taking ...
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What term describes a phrase like "in English, please"? [duplicate]
The phrase "in English, please" has different meanings in different social contexts. In one context it might mean literal English language, and in another it could imply a response in layman'...
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What do you call an answer that disagrees with the question?
For example, if person A said "Why should we do x?" and person B said "I don't think we should do x", what would you call this?
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What is a more inclusive version of "pedestrian"?
A pedestrian [noun] is a "person going on foot" (Merriam Webster).
Is there a more inclusive term that also includes people in wheelchairs and other mobility devices, but excluding people in ...
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