Communications terms, definitions, acronyms, charts, equations and related information important to readers in industry, government and academia. Voice and data communications terms are included as well as terminology from peripheral disciplines including optics, computer science, data networks and the Internet.

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Communications * Standard Dictionary is a comprehensive compilation of terms and definitions used in communications and related fields. Communications is defined as the branch of science and technology concerned with the process of representing, transferring, and interpreting the meaning as signed to data by and among persons, places, or machines. Communication is defined as the transfer of information between a source (trans mitter, light source) and a sink (receiver, photodetector) over one or more chan nels in accordance with a protocol, and in a manner suitable for interpretation or comprehension by the receiver; or as a method or means of conveying informa tion of any kind from one person or place to another. In short, communications is a branch of science and technology, whereas com munication pertains to the actual transfer of information. Thus, the word com munication should be used as a modifier, as in communication center, communi cation deception, and communication line, just as in the field of electronics one speaks of electronic devices and electronic circuits.

Careful writers and speakers agree that clich?s are generally to be avoided. However, nearly all of us continue to use them. Why do they persist in our language? In It's Been Said Before, lexicographer Orin Hargraves examines the peculiar idea and power of the clich?. He helps readers understand why certain phrases became clich?s and why they should be avoided -- or why they still have life left in them. Indeed, clich?s can be useful -- even powerful. And few people even agree on which expressions are clich?s and which are not. Many regard any frequent idiom as a clich?, and a phrase regarded as a clich? in one context may be seen simply as an effective expression in another. Examples drawn from data about actual usage support Hargraves' identification of true clich?s. They also illuminate his commentary on usage problems and helpful suggestions for eliminating clich?s where they serve no useful purpose. Concise and lively, It's Been Said Before serves as a guide to the most overused phrases in the English language -- and to phrases that are used exactly as often as they should be.

A comprehensive lexicon of all aspects of the study of interpersonal, group, mass communication and the world of internet communication.

In this book, Orin Hargraves provides a concise and lively guide to the most abused phrases in the English language today.