The difference between Preamble and Prologue: a look on professional jargons.
So, my siblings and I, together with our parents would always say: "You are talking jargons". I don't know why or maybe it's because of the influence of the Nigerian movies we grew up watching, but we thought that "Jargons" actually meant "Nonsense". I think it's just recently, level 1 to be precise, that I found out that "Jargons" and "Nonsense" are not, and will never be synonyms.
What then is this jargon term that characterized my childhood and probably made my siblings and me look like a bunch of Humpty dumpties all our lives?
A jargon is a special word or expression used by a profession or group that is difficult for others to understand. Going by this definition, you can only see how stupid you sound or sounded if you use or have ever used jargon the way my siblings and I did.
The good thing is that it's never too late. And judging by this definition, it is okay to state that every profession has its own jargons that will look totally alien in another profession.
Which brings us to our title...? As a literature student, the first time I heard of the word “prologue” was in Lower sixth when we had to study "The General Prologue and The Pardoner's Tale"; an extract from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"
In simple parlance, one would say introduction. And yes... In literary works of art, a prologue is an introduction. And in legal works, a preamble represents the same thing.
Why then did I decide to talk about this? Maybe it's because it's been as confusing to me as it has been for you. And if that's the case, let's learn together.
And just maybe the purpose of this article is to reduce verbosity and grandiloquence. Just maybe...
Isn't it funny that even law students use Introductions when writing their dissertations? Why don't they call them preambles? What's the cause for all this confusion?
I think English is more than a language. It is more of a culture. And maybe that's why some people never succeed in fully mastering it. But truthfully speaking, only 2% of the English population masters the language. Or that's an estimate of those who can speak it so well. So going with this statistics, and by our traditional African mentality, if the English man can't master his own mother tongue, who am I to master it? Have I finished mastering mine? Well... That's talk for another article.
Today I just want you to know that there are terms that mean the same thing in different fields or professions but that don’t make them interchangeable in these fields. These words are true only to their fields. And these are the words that the white man decided to call jargons.
So we'll take a look on some of these jargons that vary from occupation to occupation. Here are some of those words that are used in different professions but which generally confer the same meaning:
• Prologue vs Preamble
• Surveys vs Feasibility Studies
• Shift vs Period
• Coupon vs Ticket
• Chalice vs Goblet
• Bat vs Racket
• Commission vs Contract
• Apprentice vs Student
And while there are so many of these terms and expressions that mean the same thing across various professions, let's be careful not to interchange them if we don't want to appear as frauds. Next time before using scope, think about it… Will range fit in better?
