Star Trek did this as they developed the script, before the tech experts added in their "technobabble."
LAFORGE: "It looks like you have a [technobabble] problem."
I would do this for insignificant details — things I would have to go find but which would not have any bearing on the progression of the plot, so that I could keep my energy devoted to the flame of the scene, so I didn't lose it.
"The funeral pyre would have to be attended for [time], by the peasants the reeve had gathered."
"The night was cool and blustery, the [phase] moon low in the sky behind fleeting clouds."