Do We Really Need More Magic Words?

I find this headline and subhead combination funny and telling. The headline, which must convey information to a broad potential audience, perfectly captures a well-known human phenomenon with the words “nosy questions”; the subhead embraces contemporary elite social practice by swapping in an obscure, quasi-scientific term that denotes insider status and conveys a vaguely therapeutic orientation. Why do you need the term “predatory curiosity” when the term “nosy questions” says exactly what you need to say in a way that everyone understands? The answer is in the question: the very problem with “nosy questions” is that everyone understands it.