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.
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.”
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.
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.