Designing: technical terms

Tremula

A problem I had recently with one of my designs has me wondering, should technical terms be encouraged or discouraged when designing? 

The situation at hand is a design for a gown, and (having studied fashion for a few years) I included the term 'darts' in the description. For those of you who might not be aware, darts are folds tucked into the fabric and stitched shut to provide shape for a garment, most specifically around the bust line. "A sweeping shoulder line leads to princess sleeves, and darts around the armpit and waist accentuate the bust without overly drawing attention." However, it was returned with a note only works under the assumption that 'darts' is viewed as the verb form rather than the noun. Note that this is not the only inclusive fashion terminology in the sentence, princess sleeves might escape the layman and be seen as some vague image (though easily remedied by a Google search). Context would, I think, clue that nothing is moving about erratically within the gown. 

Now, my query is this: Is this a problem that is only encountered in tailoring? Do jewellers, forgers, or chefs have the same issue? Should we remove terminology that the Average Joe might not understand and replace it with clearer phrasing about what we're trying to say? If ease of reading is the purpose, is it better to have a blocky two or three line sentence instead of one?

(Note, the Charites did fix the problem, and the design went through, I'm looking for player thought and feedback.)

Daraius

In this case, it reads like a garden path sentence, because most brains likely interpret "darts" as a verb first. The structure allows that interpretation ("shoulder line leads ... and darts") until you get to "accentuate," then you have to go back and reinterpret the sentence. In general I think technical language is fine, and even lends a kind of professionalism to some designs if it's not over used. Just this particular example is problematic, and not likely to pop up in quite the same way very often.

Sylandra

I personally don't see the issue. The Charites gave you the thumbs up so I am guessing They don't see an issue either.

Using special terms just means that occasionally you might get a misunderstanding in the review process, like you did, if the person reviewing is unfamiliar with that terminology. But the Charites are pretty good about resolving those issues, too. My advice is just be able to back up whatever term you use with a source, just in case!

Luce

I know for most of my designs, I usually include technical terms if and only if I can pull it up on the first or second page of a Google, Wikipedia, or Google image search, and the term isn't ambiguous. The latter might get overlooked and used anyway if not using the jargon would increase the overall length of the description enough to break the flow; though sometimes I find that using lingo breaks the flow more than spelling it out would in particularly verbose designs.

EDIT: Just remembered that there's a case where I full-stop refuse to not use the associated jargon: If I'm designing anything remotely vexillolographic or heraldic, I will use heraldic terms nearly exclusively. (i.e. a raven gules party per bend sinister purpure and sable.)

Daraius

The issue isn't with technical language in general, but sentence structure in this particular case. An adjective before "darts" would cue the brain to interpret it properly as a noun.

Tremula

Hrm...you're right. Having had Portius and Daraius explain it to me, the 'garden path' description really does fit. Still, would it have been as unrecognisable if the term hadn't been used? 

Nymerya

I refuse to stop using technical terms because I sew IRL. If you don't know what a gusset is, THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE DUMB AND WRONG AND SHOULD BE ASHAMED. 

But no, really, technical terms add a little something, for me. I like seeing them in designs and I def think that it's easy enough to do a google search if you're not sure what something means in a design. 'Oh hey, that word doesn't make sense in context. Before rejecting, I'm going to google 'darts tailoring' and see what shows up.'

Portius

Depends on the alternative. If you used one that couldn't be read as a verb, you'd have an awkward but understandable sentence. The problem in the description is that "darts" is a verb as well as a noun, and the natural reading for that structure is to take it as the verb form. The likelihood of a person understanding it that way instead of in the intended way is increased by the intended meaning being fairly obscure.

That's the real risk with using technical terms. If a person doesn't know the technical meaning they can probably get a general idea from context, so in a lot of cases it's fine. The problem is with cases like this specific example where the word also has common meanings. When that happens the meaning that you intend and the meaning that a person is most likely to understand are not the same thing.

Lavinya

I admit to knowing nothing about weaponry and armour and all the jargon used in those designs. Google is my friend.

Tridemon

Nymerya said:

I refuse to stop using technical terms because I sew IRL. If you don't know what a gusset is, THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE DUMB AND WRONG AND SHOULD BE ASHAMED. 

But no, really, technical terms add a little something, for me. I like seeing them in designs and I def think that it's easy enough to do a google search if you're not sure what something means in a design. 'Oh hey, that word doesn't make sense in context. Before rejecting, I'm going to google 'darts tailoring' and see what shows up.'

A gusset is like... a goose's midsection, isn't it? <_<

Nymerya

DUMB AND WRONG. :P