[ketralnis]

I have a lot of conversations like "There's a technique called 'secure computation', which confusingly is not just computation that is secure", "They're building affordable housing, which confusingly is not housing that is affordable", "I was on a cross-country flight, which confusingly is not a flight that crosses the country". Using a different word entirely can avoid that problem

[seabass-labrax]

The UK government defines 'affordable housing' as that which is available for at least 20% below the local market rate. Cross-country flights, at least where I'm from, do indeed cross the country on one axis or very nearly so.

Is it not just the computer world which is the odd one out in coming up with needlessly confusing names?

[ketralnis]

No, it's not just the computer world.

Affordable housing where I live is a specific thing. Below-market-rate housing purchaseable/rentable with specific income requirements. Some number of units in new builds are usually required to meet this requirement. Your example sounds similar, it is also specifically defined and not just housing that is affordable but rather it meets specific requirements.

A cross-country flight to a pilot licence is a flight that goes greater than 50 nautical miles one-way. During flight training you need some number of these so you talk about them a lot during that training and it's mentioned a lot in the regulations.

And as I guess you're aware secure computation is also a term of art in CS for a specific thing.

I'm sure every field has terms of art that overlap with things whose words don't precisely describe. A chef's knife is a specific shape/class of knife, not any knife used by a chef. Law is full of them. There is a wealth of examples.