Why is 'explain XYZ to your grandma' a proxy for 'explain XYZ to a layman'

Why do interviewers assume our grandmothers don't know things? If I mentioned this within the family, my parents & grandparents would be furious and tell me to respect my elders and not think of myself so highly, punk kid. What if my grandma worked in finance?

My mom keeps telling me they know finance, they just dont know the jargon. Don't assume people don't know finance just because they don't know jargon like enterprise value

5 Comments
 
slimestein

Can't say I've heard this exact phrasing before. Have heard, and use, "explain it to me like I was 5". 

Yeah the CEO figure in the movie Margin Call said something like this. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

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