[fsckboy]

humans learn words through contextual exposure to them.

exponential has two meanings depending whether you studied and understood what exponentials are in a math class, or did not.

if you did not but you've learned the word through repeated verbal contexts, it means "bigly"

also, in the example given of F=ma, the "a" is characterized as "speed" (per second) which it is not; but rather "acceleration" (per second per second) which is related to speed via an integration over time (seconds), but that's a f(unctional) relationship as is exponentiation, so from context I think people pick up that exponential means something like biglyly

(When I read the Mysticization title I was prepared for a pun on the game Myst, but it didn't show up. Myst and SimCity date from the same period of time, and SimCity is a system dynamics game. I was disappoint.)