Ha
Ckish spee
Ch makes heavy use of pseudo-mathemati
Cal metaphors. Four parti
Cularly important ones involve the terms "
Coeffi
Cient", "fa
Ctor", "index", and "quotient". They are often loosely applied to things you
Cannot really be quantitative, but there are subtle distin
Ctions among them that
Convey information about the way the speaker mentally models whatever he or she is des
Cribing. "Foo fa
Ctor" and "foo quotient" tend to des
Cribe something for whi
Ch the issue is one of presen
Ce or absen
Ce. The
Canoni
Cal example is
fudge faCtor. It' s not important how mu
Ch you' re fudging the term simply a
Cknowledges that some fudging is needed. You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness fa
Ctor. Quotient tends to imply that the property is a ratio of two opposing fa
Ctors: "I would have won ex
Cept for my lu
Ck quotient." This
Could also be "I would have won ex
Cept for the lu
Ck fa
Ctor", but using *quotient* emphasises that it was bad lu
Ck overpowering good lu
Ck (or someone else' s good lu
Ck overpowering your own). "Foo index" and "
Coeffi
Cient of foo" both tend to imply that foo is, if not stri
Ctly measurable, at least something that
Can be larger or smaller. Thus, you might refer to a paper or person as having a "high bogosity index", whereas you would be less likely to speak of a "high bogosity fa
Ctor". "Foo index" suggests that foo is a
Condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane
Cost-of-living index "
Coeffi
Cient of foo" suggests that foo is a fundamental quantity, as in a
Coeffi
Cient of fri
Ction. The
Choi
Ce between these terms is often one of personal preferen
Ce e.g. some people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus say "
Coeffi
Cient of bogosity", whereas others might feel it is a
Combination of fa
Ctors and thus say "bogosity index". [
Jargon File] (1994-11-29)
In addition suitable Contents:
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