Non-quackery

[Yahzi]

I took my dog to the vet Monday for a prophylactic gastric torsion surgery. (Big dogs can have their stomachs flip over, like horses.)

The point is that after the operation he told me, in great detail, what they had done and why. More detail than I wanted to know.

Why is it people don't notice that real doctors give you more detail than you want, and quacks give you less?

[Nyarlathotep]

Because the less detail they give you the less likely you will be to find flaws in their explanation.

I have also noticed that they sometimes take the exact opposite tack, giving baffling, long winded, dense and dry explanations. I presume this is because they figue if it has a lot of words in it, it will sound scientific enough that you won't question it.

Unfortunately, both tactics work on a lot of people.

[Yahweh]

Legitimate Doctor: Gives a whole mess of scientific explanation

Quack Doctor: Gives an evasive often sparsely detailed explanation... or might go the other way and give a 10000 word essay using "scientific sounding" words to impress the impressionable.

[T'ai Chi]

Um, I suppose the same approaches could be taken by a "normal" doctor too. They may be in a hurry or want to push as many patients through as they can. Or, the may want to sell you the most expensive or unnecessary form of treatment they can.

Who knows.

I guess, in any case, that is why it pays to get second opinions.

[XRX]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi
Um, I suppose the same approaches could be taken by a "normal" doctor too. They may be in a hurry or want to push as many patients through as they can. Or, the may want to sell you the most expensive or unnecessary form of treatment they can.

Who knows.

I guess, in any case, that is why it pays to get second opinions.



If one studies linguistics (high school level and below), doctors and lawyers are primarily cited as examples of professionals who tend to use unhelpful jargon.

[Yahzi]

Originally posted by XRX
If one studies linguistics (high school level and below), doctors and lawyers are primarily cited as examples of professionals who tend to use unhelpful jargon.
That's just absurd. How can computer geeks not hold the title for jargon? Or the military, at least.

Here's a funny: on the TV show "Law and Order," they are always demanding that the criminal allocutes. Now, they are dealing with a wide variety of criminals, including brain dead drugged out street bums, but not once does any defendant say, "What the heck does allocute mean?"

:D

[XRX]

Originally posted by Yahzi

That's just absurd. How can computer geeks not hold the title for jargon? Or the military, at least.

Nobody talks to them, that's why :D