“BusinessWeek’s” Stephen Baker has an excellent post, essentially about the need for clear communication. Concise, if possible (which I am often guilty of not doing).
His focus is on why jargon leads to “dead-ends.”
Any writer worth his/her salt in public relations knows to leave jargon out of news releases. The same for journalists. There is a great need — usually lacking in life — for clear and simple communication. Jargon is more for spoken language.
Baker is correct in stating: “Jargon is like proprietary software in a world moving toward open-source.”
However, I don’t totally agree with:
“From universities to corporate silos, our world has developed into specialized niches, each with its own jargon. These lingos served for decades to protect people. Outsiders, after all, were far less of a threat if they couldn’t speak the language.”
Was their jargon really developed to protect them from outsiders?
Like most things, jargon develops as a way for those in that circle to concisely and even clearly communicate with each other. So, by improving the communication within their respective niches — developing jargon — they effectively alienated outsiders.
And, the growing global economy — as Baker points out — necessitates the tearing down of the jargon walls.
Clear communication. Practice it.
– Mike
Technorati tags: BusinessWeek, communication, jargon
