Why Scientists Use Terms like Dorsal, Ventral, Posterior Etc

There are many reasons why people in specialty fields use terms that may be difficult for many of us to understand or even say properly, but there are reasons for their use. The most general reason is that there is an underlying concept that they are more precise. One of the most obvious is our use of left and right. We often have to say things like "On the driver's right side of the car." or "on your left as you face north". In other word it takes more than the basic left or right term to be absolutely certain our message gets understood correctly.

Critical communication errors still happen for example when a doctor amputates the wrong leg of a diabetic patient. This did happen a few years ago locally and unfortunately the patient still had to go through a second surgery later to amputate the correct leg. We do not want such errors to take place - ever. Words are not always accurate in the transmission of meaning and the English language has many examples of how it could be confusing.

For example think about sentences like these:

1) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
2) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

Think about statements like these:

1) Why do we call them "apart-ments" if they are "all together".
2) Why do we "Park" on "Driveways"

Think about these:
1. Are butterflies made from "butter"?
2. Is there any ham in "hamburger"?

When a biologist talks about the ventral surface of an animal, it helps to define the location because the terms "belly" or "front" have potentially similar problems like our example of "right and left". When mistakes happen new procedures are developed to increase the clarity of communication. Often the communication process will include different types of communication in this way we are less likely to repeat an error that was the result of verbal communication. Now a patient would have the extremity marked with some type of tag (non verbal, physical method), and often a color marker (visual method), and checked by another person (validation method) before any serious medical procedure is initiated .

This means that the use of scientific terminology moves us in the direction of being more precise, but sometimes even that can be improved. Recently I was reminded of the difference between magma and lava. When melted rock is below ground it is called "magma" and when above ground it is called "lava". This means that if we know the actual meaning of these two words and use the words correctly, we then know immediately the source of any melted rock. When terminology is used properly the degree of clarity is substantially increased.

Over time we may use terminology without understanding the intended meaning and then can cause the terminology to loose the precision it was intended to convey. If for example we do not use the terms magma and lava correctly eventually their difference may become blurred. Scientists have very different meaning when the terms "weight" and "mass" are used. When used in everyday discussions however, the important distinction between these two terms has eroded.
When we put plants in "soil" we are not putting them in "dirt". Dirt is what you sweep from the kitchen floor.

Sometimes things will have a common name, a scientific name, and a formula name. For example: salt is commonly called table salt, or chemically it can be called "sodium chloride" and finally with a formula it can be called NaCl. One great thing about learning more about terminology is that it can not only help with more precise understanding, but it also increases our knowledge of vocabulary.