Don Warren, of Austin, Texas, writes: "I would like to know if there is a label for the category of words or phrases that is meaningful to nonspecialists but not to specialists. Some examples are 'Did she do the decent thing?' (meaningful to all but ethicists), 'Isn't that just human nature?' (meaningful to all but psychologists), and 'Did he have a heart attack?' (meaningful to all but cardiologists).

"The last example is a tougher sell than the first two but let me mention that the phrase 'heart attack' does not appear in Stedman's Medical Dictionary (25th edition, 1990) among over 40 words or phrases that begin with the letters h-e-a-r-t. And by logical extension, I doubt that a cerebrovascular stroke, fractured skull, sinusitis, and acne could be subsumed under 'head attack'?"

>common or layman's language

in layman's terms, that would be referred to as "in layman's terms".
8-)

today's wwftd is...