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Can the jargon | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Can the jargon | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


I get a lot of press releases on my work email.

The political ones have the tendency to go straight to my trash (I’m sorry, Senator Whoever You Are from not Arkansas, I don’t care about your disgust/intense pleasure over the action/inaction/comments/lack of comment by the president or whoever else; just stop clogging my email, please), as do so many of the surveys, since I try not to use random polls in my column. However, one recent survey did pique my interest.

Why? Because it was about despised business jargon.

While I won’t go into details of the survey since I despise those done mostly for free advertising for the companies doing them, the concept here has a point: Jargon in general is just awful.

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Jargon is specialized terminology used by a specific profession or group that may be difficult for those not in the know to understand. Fittingly, a look at the etymology of the word reveals it comes from a mid-14th century French word meaning chattering and language or “idle talk; thieves’ Latin.” According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it has come to mean “unintelligible talk, gibberish; chattering, jabbering.”

All I hear when someone says something like “act your wage” or “effective accelerationism” is the muted trombone used as a stand-in for adults talking in Charlie Brown cartoons.

Lake Superior State University regularly banishes all sorts of jargon along with countless tiresome slang terms through its annual Banished Words List issued every year around the turn of the new year. (Die, “branding,” “enhanced interrogation,” and “gig economy!” Yet they never do …) The Associated Press advises in its stylebook to avoid jargon as a rule, but if necessary in special context, you should include an explanation of the term.

The U.S. government has had an unfunded working group of federal employees since the mid-1990s called PLAIN (Plain Language Action and Information Network) dedicated to promoting the use of plain language in government communications. While the appropriate use of technical terms is OK, jargon is not, says PlainLanguage.gov: “Special terms can be useful shorthand within a particular audience and may be the clearest way to communicate with that group. However, going beyond necessary technical terms to write in jargon can cause misunderstanding or alienation, even if your only readers are specialists.

“Readers complain about jargon more than any other writing fault, because writers often fail to realize that terms they know well may be difficult or meaningless to their audience. Try to substitute everyday language for jargon as often as possible. … The plainer version conveys technical information just as accurately as and more clearly than the jargon-laden version.”

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The government isn’t the only proponent of plain language. The Bureau of Internet Accessibility advises, “When you’re writing content online, word choice is important. Plain language is usually the best tool for getting your message across–and ensuring that your content is accessible for all readers. … In most situations, the best option is to avoid jargon entirely. Before using an unusual term, consider whether it actually improves your content. Are you using the term to give your audience essential information, or are you using it to make your content sound more important?”

I often advise prospective guest columnists to write as if they’re having a conversation with a friend, as it’s more readable and draws readers in. While newswriting is more regimented, opinion writing need not be, and certainly doesn’t improve through use of incomprehensible jargon. If you’re dropping terms like “deliverables,” “idea shower,” or “circle back” in conversations with friends, perhaps you should take a break from work and find some new friends who speak like normal humans.

I’ll even pop for a slang dictionary for you because anything’s better than “idea shower.”

Which, I have to say, sounds a bit creepy. Ew.

This is a tough week for me, Monday being the seventh anniversary of losing the floofy love of my life, Luke. I know some people just don’t get why losing a cat would hurt so much, but others do. That sweet boy was with me while I recovered from a shattered humerus, and then a stroke, and was loved by so many, but especially me and my mom. He could be a jerk sometimes (my arms bear witness to this), but most of the time he was a goofy, floofy, loving boy who just wanted to play with his stuffed pink bunny, taunt squirrels, and love on his mom and his grandma. It didn’t hurt that he was endlessly photogenic and a big (literally, just over 19 pounds at his heaviest) goofball.

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I don’t have kind thoughts for whoever dumped him in the first place in a mall parking lot, except for this: Thank you for the funniest and sweetest companion I’ve ever had. It was your loss.


Assistant Editor Brenda Looper is editor of the Voices page. Email her at blooper@adgnewsroom.com. Read her blog at blooper0223.wordpress.com.



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Arkansas

Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports

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Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports





Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports







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Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast

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Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast


Today’s Locked On Ole Miss Podcast discusses why Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels will beat the Arkansas Razorbacks in Saturday’s matchup. This will be the next opportunity to play clean football, and I think they will put it together against the Hogs and Sam Pittman and cut down on the penalties that have been allowing teams to stay in the game.

This matchup is absolutely massive for the Rebels because of what it means in the season as a whole, and Taylen Green against the Ole Miss defense will draw everyone’s eye. People look at the Arkansas stats and assume this is a typical Bobby Petrino team, and that isn’t quite right. John Nabors of Locked On Razorbacks said that if Ole Miss goes up by 14, it is over because this team is not a play-from-behind team.

In our final segment of the day, we give our final thoughts on Ole Miss vs. Arkansas and talk about expectations for Saturday and why everything points to an Ole Miss win, but Ole Miss fans before a trip to Fayetteville have seen this movie before.

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Ole Miss Football Reveals Uniform Combination For Road Game vs. Arkansas

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Ole Miss Football Reveals Uniform Combination For Road Game vs. Arkansas


The No. 19 Ole Miss Rebels have a big test on Saturday when they travel to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, and we now know what uniform combination coach Lane Kiffin’s team will feature on the field.

For the first time in two years, the Rebels will not be wearing a different uniform combination in each of its regular season games. Ole Miss is reusing the uniform it wore earlier in the year at South Carolina, opting to don powder blue helmets, white jerseys with powder blue accents and white pants.

You can view the uniform reveal below, complete with modeling from edge rusher Princely Umanmielen.

Since this is the first year the Rebels have ever used this jersey, they are technically undefeated all-time in this uniform combination after knocking off South Carolina 27-3 in Columbia earlier this year. They hope that good luck follows them to Fayetteville this weekend, a place they have not won since 2008.

The last time Ole Miss reused a uniform combination during the regular season came in 2021, but the last time they did it in a campaign including the postseason was in 2022 when they repeated a uniform in the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech. Assuming this is the Rebels’ only road jersey in this year’s rotation, we should also see a repeat when Ole Miss travels to face Florida later in November.

Kickoff on Saturday between Ole Miss and Arkansas is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT, and the game will be televised on ESPN.





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