I've been feeling a bit recursive the past days, so I thought I should try to explain the word "explain".
Let's start by seeing what the infamous online dictionaries propose:
Cambridge: To make something clear or easy to understand by describing or giving information about it.
Webster's:
1. Give an explanation for.
2. State by way of explanation.
3. Serve as an excuse for
Comments section: Explanations can only be given by those with understanding of the object which is explained.
Since Webster is recursive, i.e. uses the word "explanation" while trying to describe "explain" I also looked up "explanation" to see whether it included anything more thought provoking:
1. A statement that explains; "he launched into a detailed explanation"; "he demanded that I give an account for my failure".
2. Thought that makes something comprehensible.
Option (2) is good enough for my purposes, since "thought" may as well be replaced with "statement" or "description".
The operation and workings involved in communicating information from one human to another is a topic that has been extensively analyzed, although only a few care enough to study a little about it. It's mainly those to whom communication plays an important part in their profession (salesmen, politicians, managers, etc).
The rest of us know everything by definition, so we also know how to communicate :-)
So, since I by definition know everything too, I say that both the Cambridge and Webster definitions convey very little essence. Enter my vastly superior definition :-D
Explain: To make the target audience think they understand what you think you understand.
Understanding is nothing but an illusion. It can always expand and it will always expand. Confusion expands our understanding: You thought you understood, but now you are confused and don't understand. Hey, your understanding has just expanded and what previously looked solid and clear now appears complex and mysterious. Eventually you will reach a new and higher level of "solid" understanding, which may again be expanded by confusion, etc.
They routinely say "Embrace Change", I dare say "Embrace Confusion"!
And don't forget... Confusion is an illusion as well...
Have fun!
Dimitris Staikos
