Buzz kill: How jargon is making you a crappy communicator

If someone's going to make their living as a communicator, you'd think they'd know how to communicate in clear language everyone can understand. Instead, professional communicators frequently speak in such a gobbledygook of jargon that no one who isn't a seminar-obsessed marketer or PR pro could ever figure out what the heck they're talking about.

Take this real-life Google+ exchange I had with a friend who is a writer, actor (including of Shakespeare) and legal professional, who I can assure you understands and knows how to use language quite well:

Him - Okay, what does "leverage my core competencies" mean? Did I leave my brain somewhere?

Me - It means "use my skills."

Him - Ahhh. Why would somebody say that?

Me - Because they think it makes them sound smart and connected, but it just makes them sound pretentious.

It's certainly true that we sometimes need specialized language to describe specialized aspects of a skill, job, hobby or other form of activity. I am not asking surgeons to stop talking about myocardial infarctions at their medical conferences (although I still think the phrase "heart attack" should spring to your lips when talking with a patient or her loved ones).

But using contrived and frequently made-up words, including turning nouns into verbs ("operationalize") and verbs into nouns ("learnings"), doesn't serve any purpose. It's simply making it harder for clients or journalists or whoever it is we're talking to to understand what we're saying. Which is, let me remind you, the exact opposite of what language, to say nothing of professional communications, is supposed to do.

I'm not suggesting that language should be held sacrosanct and never change. I'm not being a fuddy-duddy. I'm saying when you use this type of language, you sound like an idiot and no one not in your world understands you.

Kill the jargon. Speak clearly in ways people understand. Stop trying to sound like you're super-smart by using buzzwords. Sound super-smart because you have good ideas that are clearly expressed.

Comments

[YesBiscuit!]

OK but can we get a ruling on lolspeak?

[Christie Keith]

We can haz lolspeak.

[Travis]

Word!

[H. Houlahan]

And thus we illustrate the difference between idiom and jargon.

[John]

My other industry is mad for abbreviation... I can have entire conversations consisting mostly of acronyms and slang.

[Lisa in Cape May County, NJ]

I freelance as a copyeditor, and one of the questions I am always asking (rhetorically, alas) is: Why did this person bother to write a book if she is not interested in communicating with the rest of the world?

[Tanya H]

Amen! I hope all managers and PR pros read this!