“Let me be quite clear. I do indeed condemn their application, but I heartily approve of the phrase itself. I would say the same thing regarding all recent scientific terminology, all of which you should learn by heart. Although the distinguishing characteristic of a bigwig may well be a rather unyielding attitude reminiscent of the god Terminus, whereas the sciences are the product of everyday human endeavor, if you are to become a bigwig later on in life, you should arm yourself with the most up-to-date weapons. Because one of two things will happen: either these scientific terms and expressions will be worn out from overuse in thirty years’ time, or they will keep themselves fresh and new. In the first case, they will fit you like an old glove; in the second case, you can wear them in your buttonhole to show that you, too, know what’s what. From scraps of conversation, you will eventually form some sort of idea about which laws, cases, and phenomena all this terminology corresponds to; because the alternative method of scientific inquiry—from the books and theses of the experts themselves—as well as being tedious and tiring, brings with it the danger of exposure to new ideas, and is thus fundamentally false. Furthermore, if you were ever truly to master the spirit of those laws and formulae, you would probably be inclined to employ them with a certain moderation, like the shrewd and prosperous seamstress of whom a classical poet wrote:

The more cloth she has the more sparingly she cuts,

And the smaller the pile of scraps left over.

“It goes without saying that such behavior on the part of a bigwig would be most unscientific.”

“My word, it’s a tricky business!”

“And we’re not finished yet.”

“Well, then, let’s carry on.”