According to Wikipedia: > The common expression "a steep learning curve" is a misnomer suggesting that an activity is difficult to learn and that expending muc

According to Wikipedia: > The common expression "a steep learning curve" is a misnomer suggesting that an activity is difficult to learn and that expending much effort does not increase proficiency by much, although a learning curve with a steep start actually represents rapid progress. In fact, the gradient of the curve has nothing to do with the overall difficulty of an activity, but expresses the expected rate of change of learning speed over time. An activity that it is easy to learn the basics of, but difficulty to gain proficiency in, may be described as having "a steep learning curve". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve So the term "steep learning curve" is well-established and my interpretation was correct, but my analogy was wrong. The OP seems to be using it correctly according to the above quotation. "Steep" is a misnomer, but that doesn't make using the term wrong.