“A Glossary for Research Reports,” by C.D. Graham Jr., from Metal Progress, May 1957:
| It has long been known that … | I haven’t bothered to look up the original reference |
| … of great theoretical and practical importance | … interesting to me |
| While it has not been possible to provide definite answers to these questions … | The experiments didn’t work out, but I figured I could at least get a publication out of it |
| The W-Pb system was chosen as especially suitable to show the predicted behaviour … | The fellow in the next lab had some already made up |
|
High-purity … Very high purity … Extremely high purity … Super-purity … Spectroscopically pure … |
Composition unknown except for the exaggerated claims of the supplier |
| A fiducial reference line … | A scratch |
| Three of the samples were chosen for detailed study … | The results on the others didn’t make sense and were ignored |
| … accidentally strained during mounting | … dropped on the floor |
| … handled with extreme care throughout the experiments | … not dropped on the floor |
| Typical results are shown … | The best results are shown |
| Although some detail has been lost in reproduction, it is clear from the original micrograph that … | It is impossible to tell from the micrograph |
| Presumably at longer times … | I didn’t take time to find out |
| The agreement with the predicted curve is excellent | … fair |
| … good | … poor |
| … satisfactory | … doubtful |
| … fair | … imaginary |
| … as good as could be expected | … non-existent |
| These results will be reported at a later date | I might possibly get around to this sometime |
| The most reliable values are those of Jones | He was a student of mine |
|
It is suggested that … It is believed that … It may be that … |
I think |
| It is generally believed that … | A couple of other guys think so too |
| It might be argued that … | I have such a good answer to this objection that I shall now raise it |
| It is clear that much additional work will be required before a complete understanding … | I don’t understand it |
| Unfortunately, a quantitative theory to account for these effects has not been formulated | Neither does anybody else |
| Correct within an order of magnitude | Wrong |
| It is to be hoped that this work will stimulate further work in the field | This paper isn’t very good, but neither are any of the others in this miserable subject |
| Thanks are due to Joe Glotz for assistance with the experiments and to John Doe for valuable discussions | Glotz did the work and Doe explained what it meant |
See Progress.