3 ms·

Oy, veh; that abstract is a mess, even given that IANAphysicist. For instance, I'm thinking that "the counterintuitive result has been obtained that a neutron i

Oy, veh; that abstract is a mess, even given that IANAphysicist. For instance, I'm thinking that "the counterintuitive result has been obtained that a neutron is" can be replaced by "a neutron can be". Language matters; if your writing is unnecessarily dense and confusing, your ideas are probably the same, you just don't know it yet.

wormius 3y ago
I noticed something like this in another domain earlier today. The writing was so obtuse. Before sharing I had to edit the quote and make it more direct.
ttoinou 3y ago
Youre removing the information that the result is counterintertuitive...
tekla 3y ago
Wow, great way of removing context and nuance in a field that requires context and nuance
- washadjeffmad 3y ago
  Is that not provided elsewhere by the report? I'm not against precision of language, and I don't think parent's example was the best, but over-specificity is often a bastion of people who are not sure what they are saying. "This is not necessarily a detail of relevance, and it is duplicated in the data, but I noticed it and am remarking on it to show that I did not fail to notice this, even if it does not seem to have material importance to this experiment, whose audience should be able to interpret the data for themselves and understand this. However, I have written this to the limit of length and parsable complexity, yet it cannot be said whether I have overstated or understated anything. I am the James Joyce of science, and I justify this part of my value through superficial prolixity." I blame all those years of 1000-word and 5-paragraph essays.
magicalhippo 3y ago
While not a great sentence by any means, your replacement leaves out the rather important detail that this result has been shown experimentally.
icehawk 3y ago
"can be" implies that sometimes a neutron is is measured and sometimes it's not measured, but I don't think that is something the paper is trying to say.
bbstats 3y ago
Cough NNT cough
Enginerrrd 3y ago
>Language matters; if your writing is unnecessarily dense and confusing, your ideas are probably the same, you just don't know it yet. Before you get too righteous here: you do realize there are a lot of competent physicists for whom English is not a first language right?

wormius 3y ago

I noticed something like this in another domain earlier today. The writing was so obtuse. Before sharing I had to edit the quote and make it more direct.

ttoinou 3y ago

Youre removing the information that the result is counterintertuitive...

tekla 3y ago

Wow, great way of removing context and nuance in a field that requires context and nuance

washadjeffmad 3y ago
Is that not provided elsewhere by the report? I'm not against precision of language, and I don't think parent's example was the best, but over-specificity is often a bastion of people who are not sure what they are saying. "This is not necessarily a detail of relevance, and it is duplicated in the data, but I noticed it and am remarking on it to show that I did not fail to notice this, even if it does not seem to have material importance to this experiment, whose audience should be able to interpret the data for themselves and understand this. However, I have written this to the limit of length and parsable complexity, yet it cannot be said whether I have overstated or understated anything. I am the James Joyce of science, and I justify this part of my value through superficial prolixity." I blame all those years of 1000-word and 5-paragraph essays.

magicalhippo 3y ago

While not a great sentence by any means, your replacement leaves out the rather important detail that this result has been shown experimentally.

icehawk 3y ago

"can be" implies that sometimes a neutron is is measured and sometimes it's not measured, but I don't think that is something the paper is trying to say.

bbstats 3y ago

Cough NNT cough

Enginerrrd 3y ago

>Language matters; if your writing is unnecessarily dense and confusing, your ideas are probably the same, you just don't know it yet. Before you get too righteous here: you do realize there are a lot of competent physicists for whom English is not a first language right?