4 ms·
Yeah you need a better name for that, because, while the phenomenon is real, the name is kind of meh. Why not the electrician problem? Or the teacher problem?
by dudul 3y ago
Yeah you need a better name for that, because, while the phenomenon is real, the name is kind of meh. Why not the electrician problem? Or the teacher problem? Any profession would work. Why plumbers? Plus, I can't really recall any movie or novel where expertise in plumbing was essential to the plot.
Editing here because based on some replies my message wasn't clear: I was talking about expertise in plumbing exhibited by one of the protagonists, not someone watching the movie obviously.
- ortusdux 3y agoGell-Mann awareness?
- nomadluap 3y agoor just, "The Expert Problem"
- blowski 3y agoI know “the expert problem” as being unable to explain your area of expertise to anyone because your entire vocabulary and mental model of the world is so deep into that expertise. This is why so many of us on HN are ignored at work, for example - the leaders prefer simpler explanations they can understand, even if they’re wrong.
- alanbernstein 3y agoThe dull name kind of emphasizes how it applies to practically any field of knowledge, AND how it often has no plot significance. The plumbing example given was just an anachronism in the set design.
- lightbendover 3y ago> Plus, I can't really recall any movie or novel where expertise in plumbing was essential to the plot. That's the point, expertise in an area can completely distract from the plot entirely. I can't even watch anything medical-related with my wife since she'll get annoyed about inaccuracies and start complaining about them. Doesn't matter how unrelated to the actual plot it is.
- dudul 3y agoI wasn't clear, I was talking about expertise exhibited by one of the protagonists.
- bluGill 3y agoThe point is that expertise in plumbing isn't essential to the plot. Sometimes it might be, but sometimes it is just a background thing that a plumber would catch but most people don't. If the scene is in the basement a plumber might notice that the drain pipes are all flowing uphill, but the average person just sees a bunch of pipes that to think look like the pipes in any other basement. Of course in a lot of cases expertise is needed. However that isn't important. The important part is you have more knowledge about something than the average person.
- e28eta 3y agoDoes he? “Here’s a phrase I use, and what it means” seems fine to me. There might be a bit of personal history why he chose a plumber, but I’m guessing he doesn’t remember.
- andy81 3y agoThis bit sounds plumber-y from the article. > Simon Orrell: My first exposure to “The Plumber Problem” was sitting in a theatre with my dad in 1973 watching “Emperor of the North” and my dad leans over to whisper, “They didn’t make culvert pipe like that back in the ’30s. It was plate, not corrugated.”
- e28eta 3y agoI think people are tooting examples to him, and that’s just a recent example, not the source of the name.
- sublinear 3y agohttps://imdb.com/title/tt0079727/ https://imdb.com/title/tt0079727/ The Plumber (1979) A young couple, living in a campus apartment complex, are repeatedly harassed by an eccentric plumber, who subjects them to a series of bizarre mind games while making unnecessary repairs to their bathroom.
- justincredible 3y ago[dead]
- pavel_lishin 3y agoAlso, the bike shed is the wrong color!