Translation

Like most academics, I veer back and forth between conversations among IP law colleagues and conversations in which I explain what I do to everyone else. The two styles of discourse usually don’t resemble each other much. At last, however, I seem to have stumbled onto a shorthand that works in both communities. Last weekend a non-IP, non-law professional colleague asked about my current paper project. I said that I’m working on a theory of information policy. She looked blank and repeated her question, more or less. I said, “It’s about metaphor.” Ah, she replied. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.