As long as everyone else knows what they are talking about that is. You can't just go around and start calling things they are not . Meetings at work would be a lot longer if every had a different word for a device or concept your discussing
I agree, but I also didn't say everyone got to call everything whatever they wanted, I said the people who make it get to name it.
I'm well aware of the confusion it can cause when people just make up their own names for things that already have names. Here's a story that really happened, at a nuclear chemical plant where I used to work....
There was a guy in the maint dept, an electrician, nice guy, knew electrics but either couldn't or wouldn't learn the correct names of the plant equipment he worked on. SO, he would make up a name for it. The guys who worked with him knew he did that, and knew what he was talking about, but no one ELSE did!
We had a piece of equipment called a "wig-wag agitator" (no joke that's what the maker called it) unlike regular tank agitators (which spin) this one just "wig-waged" back and forth. This was needed due to the nature of the liquid in the tank.
Ok, so it breaks and stops. Maint looks at it, its an electrical problem. THAT GUY the electrician, couldn't remember the right name so he gave it a goofy name of his own. He told the group manager (who apparently knew less about the equipment than he did
) that they needed to order parts for "the weedle beetle" And SHE DID!! She ordered parts for "the weedle beetle".
Couple weeks go by, no parts, wig-wag not fixed, that part of the process still shut down. Upper management asks why. Gets answer from group mgr, "not fixed, no parts yet, don't know why..."
Two more weeks, still no parts, not fixed, upper management now VERY interested and rather grumpy. Demands why isn't this fixed yet?
Grp manager has no answer. Some member of the operating crew, who shall remain nameless (and blameless) suggests through "back channels" to upper mgt that they might want to look into WHAT parts got ordered and by whom.
Two weeks later, wig-wag is fixed and group manager is ...reassigned. Union electrician gets "counseled" and "remedially trained".
Using the right names absolutely matters. And the "right" name is what the maker says it is. Even if that is confusing to you or I.
Look at all the fun we have with the Ruger Vaquero and the Ruger New Vaquero, for another example. Ruger and a few other people are very clear on the difference between the guns. The rest of the world, not so much, it seems.