Grant Barrett said:
Anatomy is full of eponyms — that is, words inspired by the name of a person. In this case, there are the fallopian tubes, the Achilles heel, and the eustachian tubes. But there's a movement in anatomy to replace eponyms with more scientific, descriptive names. Thus, fallopian tubes are now uterine tubes and eustachian tubes are auditory tubes.
I can't say I approve of where this is heading. I put in all that effort learning to say Hansen's disease instead of leprosy and now I have to go back?
And if someone is choking, am I going to have to ask if anyone knows how to perform the abdominal thrust maneuver?
I believe Florida has a turnpike, but it's been a long time since I drove anywhere in Florida. 
I first heard "litotes" in Monty Python's "Piranha Brothers" sketch.
"He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious."
I work at a large software company in the northwest. We, like anatomists,
have a large vocabulary of specialty language. Sometimes, we invent words where
a new word is not really needed. For example, when a function that programs
call should not be called anymore, a civilian might call it,
"Obsolete." In the software industry, we would use the term,
"Deprecated."
This usage bothers me for two reasons. One, the word, "Obsolete"
perfectly covers the case. Two, "Deprecated" already has a meaning
and it does not match this usage. As part of my campaign to change this, I did
some research and I found that the new usage was started by a competitor to
where I work. So, not only are we using the wrong word, we are supporting
someone else's mistake.
My arguments fell on deaf ears. People insisted that the jargon was
necessary as it covered a very specific case in a technical area. OK, I decided
that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If people wanted jargon, I would give
them jargon, but I would use a term that is already in the dictionary with the
right definition - defenestrated. Look it up and you will be able to guess
where I work.
Gary Syck said:
defenestrated. Look it up and you will be able to guess
where I work.
Syck. Very Syck.
Welcome.
In another life, another software company, we would call such functions vestigial. The word vestigial provides no clever clue to that company's name. But, I can see some sense in the word depreciated, in the accounting meaning of depreciation. The function once was of value, which diminished over time, until now it has no value at all. It has become fully depreciated -- a write-off.
I am always happy to see the word defenestrate put to constructive use. I will give it a try around my work -- we're on the 27th floor -- and let you know how it is received.