usage - Is "layman" an offensive term?


Is it offensive to use the term layman nowadays? Does it insinuate that the people to whom you are referring are uneducated?


I am wanting to say



This is just one of the ways that CERN's research affects the layman.



Is that acceptable?



Answer



"Layman" is a perfectly acceptable term. No one is an expert in every field. It refers to a person who is not an expert in the field. Very educated and accomplished people are laymen in fields not related to their own. For instance a neurosurgeon may know nothing about economics or paleo-botany and may ask: "Could you please describe that in layman's terms."


Say you're at an event and you hear something that you don't understand. "This GUID is not sufficient for our needs. We need to concatenate ..." No one would consider you, or a neurosurgeon, or a physicist incompetent for not knowing what a Globally Unique Identifier is. If, however, you're passing yourself over as a DBA (Database Administrator) or cyber-security expert and you don't know what a GUID is then you're opening yourself up for ridicule.


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