Its a somewhat common joke in our office that if you ask 3 researchers "What is lift?" you'll get 5 answers (and probably a bit of an argument).

I think "It's complicated" and "Why do you need to know?" are often the only appropriate answers, as context is important. I've read some "aerodynamics for pilots" type books that from a research point of view I considered to be, to some degree, wrong. But ultimately they were _right_ in that they taught the pilot exactly what they needed to know.

In a way it reminds me of electricity. I know enough to design and make simple circuitry, but I know electrical engineers and physicists that could run rings around me at both the circuit design level and the "That's not how electricity works, you idiot!" level.