Terminology and Newbies

Terminology and Newbies

I like to take a comforting moment to talk about terminology, especially where beginners and newbies are concerned.

There is specialized and specific terminology, and it doesn't matter what area of interest you are talking about. From medicine, spiritual matter, politics, IT, building, cooking, health, TV, music, and even everyday household chores, terminology abounds. It is part and parcel of life and it plays good purposes.

There is an undeniable pride of knowledge and accomplishment when we can use, and better still, can confidently understand an interest-specific term. It is an indication to ourselves and others that we "know".

Then on the very practical and useful side of the coin, using terminology makes communication so much easier and faster. To say an "Please send me an SMS" is so much easier than having to say, "Please use your mobile phone, and write me a short text via the Write Messages function".

As with the rest of life, so it is in jewelry making, and crafts, and art. Terminology abounds. But we might never come across some of these till we get the urge to be interested in some art form. And then, what is not uncommon is that, we don't progress into that field as fast as we could.

As we get interested in something, we start to ask, research, read, and Google about it. After a few hours (if we are luckily persistent), we tend to put it aside. There were just too many new things to know and too many industry specific terms around that had first to be understood before one could even move to the next step. So we put off the learning into the "too hard basket" - for now. We may (or may not) come back to it when our brains are clearer and/or we have more time.

So I say to myself and to all the newbies out there (and we all are, in some field of endeavour, at some stage),

As we move into the doorways of new learning, just let the terminology flow over you for the moment. First, get the concept and the terminology will naturally follow like osmosis - almost without effort.

And that is what I intent to do here, for myself and all newbies, as I gather and learn new forms of jewelry making .. get concepts as simple as possible and then tag on the terminology as we go - for ease of communication and for the needed sense of accomplishment.

And whenever I find myself halted and daunted by a plethora of new terminology coming in the way of me trying to learn something new, I repeat to myself these realistic, comforting, and truthful questions and statements:

• Q. Are there lots of people out there who have used and are using these terms - with understanding?
• Q. As I am as capable of understanding as most of them?
• Q. If they can do it, then I can too.

And last but not least, I remind myself that any terminology is nothing but little letters thrown together to encapsulate some idea that is graspable. That the terms arise to help me later and not to hinder me now.