Curious Omission In New-Style Formats

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 15 Jul 2016 11:13 pm, Jussi Piitulainen wrote:

> Steven D'Aprano writes:
> 
> [in response to my attempt to understand "steep learning curve"]
> 
>> "Learning curve" or "experience curve" is not just an metaphor, it is
>> an actual technical term. See the Wikipedia article:
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve
>>
>>
>> Now, there are a couple of ways that we can interpret the idiom of
>> "steep learning curve". One is the way Wikipedia interprets it: as a
>> mistake.
> 
> [- -]
> 
> Ouch. Next time I hear anyone use the phrase, if I need to know whether
> they mean "easy to learn" or "hard to learn" or something else, I think
> I'll ask them...

You really don't need to. "Steep learning curve" in ordinary English ALWAYS
means that it is hard to make progress and then gets easier once you have
mastered it. Its a common idiom.

If you're talking to an actual expert in the field about an actual graph,
then it might be worth asking them what they mean. And the chances are they
will mean exactly the same thing as ordinary people, and they'll just
say "turn your head to the side, see how steep the graph is at the start".

That's my prediction.



-- 
Steven
“Cheer up,” they said, “things could be worse.” So I cheered up, and sure
enough, things got worse.