A Guide to Effective Scientific Communication

Phrase                          Translation
=================================================================================
It has long been known  -->       I haven't bothered to look up the reference

It is believed        -->          I think

It is generally believed  -->     A couple of other guys think so too

It is not unreasonable to  -->    If you believe this, you'll believe
assume                               anything

Of great theoretical    -->       I find it kind of interesting
importance

Of great practical importance  --> I can get some mileage out of it

 Typical results are shown  -->    The best results are shown

 3 samples were chosen for  -->    The others didn't make sense, so
 further study                      we ignored them

 The 4 hour sample was not   -->   I dropped it on the floor
 studied

 The 4 hour determination may   -->    I dropped it on the floor, but
 not be significant                          scooped most of it up

 The significance of these  -->    Look at the pretty artifact
 results is unclear

 It has not been possible to -->   The experiment was negative, but
 provide definitive answers      at least I can publish the data
                                            somewhere

 Correct within an order of   -->  Wrong
 magnitude

 It might be argued that   -->     I have such a good answer for this
                                    objection that I shall now raise it

 Much additional work will be -->  This paper is not very good, but
 required                                    neither are all the others in this
                                                miserable field

 These investigations proved  -->  My grant is going to be renewed
 highly rewarding

 I thank X for assistance   -->  X did the experiment and Y explained
 with the experiments and       it to me
 Y for useful discussions
 on the interperetation of
 the data