@suesa, I think "splicing" sounds to non-scientists a lot like its non-science usage. When you splice two wires, for example, you join them together into one circuit. So, I can see how someone can form the concept of "splicing together" two animals' DNA to make a hybrid animal. I think movies and TV shows don't help, since sometimes the first time we hear the phrase, it is being misused in the way you're saying.
might be comparable to a programmer who’s asked to repair a printer … or a microwave, because he’s “good with technology and can do that coding stuff”.
I relate to this more than you could possibly imagine. I am constantly asked computer hardware and even consumer electronics questions by friends and family. I don't know. I write software. My answer to your question will be as good as Google's and if you ask me to fix something, I will most likely break it. Grr.
But speaking of programming stuff...
But DNA is large and can’t be easily “read”, so certain enzymes are responsible for transcribing (copying) the bit that’s actually needed - which is the mRNA (messenger RNA, RNA is similar to DNA just with a slightly different structure). This mRNA is then translated into proteins.
Oooh! This reminds me a bit of program execution on computers! It's like the DNA is the program on-disk, and the act of the mRNA copying it is like loading the program into RAM. Then it can undergo changes in state (splicing!) before the output happens (protein!) then it all happens over again from scratch the next time the DNA sequence is loaded.
This is neat stuff! I was always bored in biology class, but I think I was not looking small enough... or fell asleep before we discussed this part. This DNA stuff seems pretty cool :)
There comes the native speaker, I've only ever heard "splicing" in the context of genetics. And yes, I can imagine what you suggested is the reason.
I'm always amused how well certain biological processes can be compared to computer stuff.
And ofc you didn't like it in school, they tend to explain it in a very dry and complicated way - I left out most of the complicated stuff.