We've all worked on coming up with more appropriate names for the
safe-sounding term "formula".  I've taken to using the word "formula"
anyway, and I finally figured out why I do.

1)  People need to know what we're talking about, and more importantly

2)  I think that if you want to teach someone something, you do best to
make yourself just like that person in all ways but one - and that one is
the thing you're trying to teach.  If you dress like him, talk like him,
watch his tv programs, show interest in what he's interested in, he can
say, "You know, that XX is an okay kind of person.  If s/he is so concerned
about such and such, maybe I should be too."  Come across as a different
kind of person, with multiple agendas, and you and your crusades can both
be written off as flaky.

If we try to rename formula, maybe we're trying to change two things at
once, instead of one, and lose our audience at the start.  Words that used
to have a positive connotation can change with changing public opinion.
Formula became a negative word for us;  maybe we can sway the public too.
Whaddya think?

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY