Granularity

When people try to describe abstract concepts, Mills says, they are now thinking and expressing themselves with digital imagery.

People have been using mechanical terms to describe concepts for a long while. For example, in the early 20th century, when Sigmund Freud wrote of pressure in the human brain and mental breakdowns, he used steam-engine metaphors.

Granularity "is a hot word," says Mike Agnes, editor in chief of Webster's New World dictionaries, in Cleveland. "It gives people a word they can use for a new way of looking at things -- whether it be engineering, business, politics -- and a new way of evaluating."

It means depth of detail, he says. "If you were a photographer or an astronomer, speaking of an image, you would use the term 'resolution.' "

All of a sudden, Agnes says, "granularity" is a buzzword.

"It's a very interesting concept, and if we've got a concept we need a word."

It's also a way of speaking about basic things without sounding simplistic.

Businesspeople have been using it for years. Now, like "synergy" and "drilling down," it's creeping into the general consciousness. When Santa Clara, Calif., Assistant City Manager Ron Garratt was asked earlier about a proposal for a new San Francisco 49ers stadium, he replied, "Until we drill down, until we see the granularity of this proposal and what the pieces of this plan are, we won't know from a staff perspective if the definition of 'no impact on general fund' will be met or not."

According to Webopedia, "granularity" is helpful when discussing systems: "The extent to which a system contains separate components (like granules). The more components in a system -- or the greater the granularity -- the more flexible it is."

Without granularity, it's hard to get traction.

Agnes says he would not hesitate to use the word in everyday discourse.

Words and phrases often move from the particular to the general. For instance, he has noticed a surge (ahem) in the use of "event horizon."

"Originally it was used in physics, particularly cosmology," Agnes says. Lately it's been popping up in the business world to denote the moment that marks the beginning of an inevitable process. It's the point of no return. "Once you reach an event horizon, the event itself is sure to follow," he says.

With granularity.