Comment by 6stringmerc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by 6stringmerc | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

In the US, if people take the mystique out of health care and treated it more like food service, then it'd be a lot easier to understand why the industry is so hit-and-miss with a wide range of issues. In other terms, the demand is so strong in the industry that I have no doubt the competency is something to genuinely be concerned about as a patient. I've seen it first hand - Docs and Nurses are humans, and humans get tired, or forgetful, or distracted and those aren't personal faults. However, when they screw up, instead of being apologetic, getting defensive is a very typical response.

What this article points out is something a little deeper, in that knowing the language and culture will allow an individual to social engineer through challenges. I've done it with the medical community, also in Wall St. finance, but it's most useful in my day-to-day life when going out to eat in a restaurant. There are cues and phrases to drop which can alert a competent server as to the experience level - and possible expectations - I will have of the meal. Being deeply involved in such things can have that affect on people, at least it really has for me. Criticism from another industry participant tends to sting more, because it cuts to the point.

> There are cues and phrases to drop which can alert a competent server as to the experience level - and possible expectations - I will have of the meal.

I typically do the opposite. I underplay my experience level, and gloss over their mistakes. It's more important to me to make sure that they can relax and be comfortable, than to manipulate out of them the best possible meal. Intentional "raise expectations" dialogue seems rude, and I'm generally uncomfortable around people who try that.

But maybe I'm also just covering up for my own imposter-syndrome in case I inadvertently set the overall expectations too high. Interesting to think about.

There are cues and phrases to drop which can alert a competent server as to the experience level - and possible expectations - I will have of the meal.

Maybe I've just been bing-watching too much Silicon Valley lately, but I pictured Erlich Bachman saying that right before the waitstaff rolls their eyes on the way to the kitchen before they spit on the food. A competent server might very well be tuned in to manipulation as well as being able to sling a mean plate of food.

Can you describe the types of language and culture? Or have resources to look into this further, I find it interesting.

Read up on Shibboleth [1]. Using language or phrasing, it's a way to suss out members of a certain group. One can argue that the internet memes are a type of shibboleth for internet groups. One example is The Narwhal Bacons at Midnight [2]. I'm sure YC alumni have some type of shibboleth to identify themselves in situations.

Shibboleth entered mainstream culture (and when I learned it) via a West Wing episode called "Shibboleth" [3]. The clip is worth a watch.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth

[2] http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-narwhal-bacons-at-midnight

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqkaBEWPH18

> Shibboleth entered mainstream culture (and when I learned it) via a West Wing episode called "Shibboleth"

The concept of a shibboleth entered mainstream culture many centuries ago; it is a story from the Bible.

To an extent I can describe it the concept would be "jargon" on a broad level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jargon

Thus, certain groups engage in trying to build up minor tests or cues to test a person's depth or familiarity with a professional subject. So if I'm talking to a person at a bar, and I find out they work at a major bank, say, Comerica, I can probe enough, politely, to probably understand what they do. This level of professional knowledge is not easily faked - it's like a web of synaptic references tagged to various terms and concepts (mostly "made up" for an industry).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com