I rather like the phrase "impedance mismatch". I understand it was derived from the realm of electronics, and it's now also commonly applied to problems with object-relational database mapping.
I've heard it used to describe more general misunderstandings between people, and I think it's a very neat phrase. For example, person A wants to communicate some information to person B. The message from A to B inherently includes some assumptions about what person A believes that person B believes about the world. If these assumptions are incorrect, person B's interpretation of the message may differ from the interpretation person A expected. There is an impedance mismatch between their understandings, and so the message fails to communicate all of the intended information.
Surprisingly, Google doesn't seem to return any results for the phrase "impedance mismatch" that don't relate to electronics, sound or ORDBMS. Is this use of the phrase really that uncommon? Am I perhaps using it incorrectly?