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A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data

025·49

semantic drift

/sɪˈmæn.tɪk drɪft/ - n.

1 [colloq.] The slow process by which 'customer' comes to mean six things, none of them on file.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. The gradual divergence of a term's working meaning across teams and time, eroding trust in shared data.

Evidence

See also

business glossaryA glossary in which the term 'owner' is the only entry without one.
controlled vocabularyThe aspiration; the practice is mostly the uncontrolled kind, which is why this exists.
data citizenshipA responsibility assigned to everyone, which is the established method of assigning it to no one.