Calling Things

Julianne from Cosmic Variance has a hilarious comment about nomenclature in astronomy. I agree that there is some strange slang around that even other physicists might not get. An all-time favourite is of course calling all atoms except Hydrogen and Helium for “metals”.

I guess oneself gets used to almost everything, but I also have experienced strange looks from students while explaining things with some of those “special” words.

Tags: ,