Quantum leap

[robinturner]

Whenever I hear someone talking about "a quantum leap", I get the urge to say "You mean something so small you need expensive laboratory equipment to detect it?"

Comments

[wouldprefernot2.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about "meteoric rise".

[subbes]

"It is sometimes said that a phrase such as 'a quantum leap in technology' is inappropriate, because 'quantum' supposedly means 'small' in quantum mechanics, so a 'quantum leap' would be a 'small advance'. However, 'quantum' does not actually mean 'small' in quantum mechanics; it means 'indivisible' or 'all-at-once'. A quantum leap is an advance that happens all at once, rather than gradually over time. If advances are classified as either evolutionary or revolutionary, then a quantum leap would be the latter."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_leap

[subbes]

That siad, the people who are using the phrase probably are not aware of the meaning of quantum anyway, much like paradigm.

Depends whether we're discussing this in terms of vocab and perceived meanings, or scientific definitions.

[solri.livejournal.com]

Eek, don't get me going on paradigms!

In my ENG 101 classes, I give students a list of common words in academic writing (http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/staff/averil-coxhead/awl/frequent.html), with a strong recommendation (backed up by a few quizzes) that they make sure they know them. One of these is, of course, "paradigm", and on a few occasions, I've had the following exchange in class:

ME: Can anyone tell me what a paradigm is?
STUDENT: Paradigma. [The Turkish for "paradigm"]
ME: Peki. "Paradigma" ne demek?" [OK. What does "paradigma" mean?]
STUDENT: Ne biliğim. [I haven't a clue.]
ME: Don't worry. No one really knows what a paradigm is.

[alsoname.livejournal.com]

Um, so how do people keep fucking up 'paradigm'? I use that word more than is seemly, and now I'm all paranoid I'm doing it wrong.

[solri.livejournal.com]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "paradigm" as "A pattern, exemplar, example," though it also allows metaphorical use, quoting a paper in Language: "As for the periods in between the quantum leaps, Kuhn contends that each period of normal science in the development of a scientific discipline corresponds to one and only one methodological framework or paradigm. In a nut-shell, paradigms are ‘universally recognized scientific achievements that for a time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners’."

What has, I assume, happened is that, thanks largely to Kuhn, the meaning of "examplar" has given way to something like "theoretical framework" and hence to "Weltanschauung."

[asteriskhere.livejournal.com]

This is the way I always tended to interpret the word paradigm:

"A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline." (definition #3 at dictionary.com)

[solri.livejournal.com]

That looks like a pretty good definition of the modern sense of the word.

[ironed_orchid]

Some one, I think it might have been Mary Warnick, wrote a paper claiming that Kuhn used "paradigm" no less that 28 different ways in The Structure of Scientific Revolution.

So what hope have the rest of us got?

[kristian.livejournal.com]

Everyone loves a smartarse!

[ironed_orchid]

Now that's the sort of thing that should be a quote of the day.