Words should not be coined if the correct word exists, and the correct
word should be used. Jargon, I think, is unnecessary coinage, while
'le mot juste' does not become jargon merely because a reader hasn't
heard it. Some of those Greek words are incredibly helpful. We'll
get nowhere if we throw away all our hard-earned distinctions.
George Steiner, in After Babel (2nd ed), says that language experts
have not explained the most obvious fact about language, that
languages proliferate. He has a fascinating account of why this
happens, where he elaborates several of the mechanisms that have been
mentioned here. (I also recall, perhaps incorrectly, that he says
human language can be distinguished from animal communication in the
human's capacity to lie.)
-- kent_myers@smtplink.sra.com