Reading academic papers is a painful experience. There is a certain palaver that is mandatory in academic circles, even though it makes those papers more difficult to understand. The legal profession has the same problem.
Ah, I should have been more specific. Jargon specific to a particular field of study or work is fine by me (though laws and definitely academia in general are plagued by being overly worded for no reason - I may get a headache but I can usually muddle through) and serves more than one purpose. I was referring to technical manuals for electronics and the like; you often need specific details or instructions. I can see where a dumbing down of the language could affect a large number of things, though.
i had to look up palaver.
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