I hate it when non-scientists accuse us of using "jargon", because it's only jargon if you don't know the words.
Any specialized occupation has the same problem. Words are used to describe specific, often complex, processes or concepts, and because the words are not part of the everyday lexicon, they are dismissed as jargon. Some occupations seem to have an affection for jargon beyond its usefulness, but I venture that most use the words as the necessary tools that they are.
My father, a mechanic by trade, once launched into a critique of legalese and asked me why lawyers had to make up words so that other people couldn't understand them. I responded by pointing out to him that most of the tools and equipment he used were unfamiliar to me, and that I might as well criticize him for having a specific word for that funny-piece-of-metal-with-a-handle-on-it which non-mechanics did not understand. If he and Geoff got into a discussion of truck engines, it would all go right over my head.
