Most professions develop peculiar vernaculars which allow practitioners in that profession to communicate precisely and effectively. The same holds true for many other human undertakings outside the professions.
Oddly, except for terms borrowed from accounting and statistics, business is almost devoid of a precise, descriptive, and long-established vernacular. This is probably okay in a mass production environment (in the sense that most things, no matter how dysfunctional, are “okay” in a mass production environment) but in a Lean environment the lack of precision creates a great deal of trouble.
Consider, for example, the definition of the word “customer”.
Most dictionaries define customer something along the lines of “a person who purchases goods or services from another.”
I think most business people would accept this definition as clear and precise. But is it? Is it a useful definition? I think not.