Jargon Jihad

As I reported a few weeks ago, "with any jargon (the language particular to a trade, profession or other group - Macquarie Dictionary) it is simply a shorthand to gain common understanding. Image 7 Group has been advocating for many years that jargon, when well used, is a useful communication tool.

But it is a double-edged sword. The downside of jargon is that it can quickly become a mechanism to exclude people who are not on the 'inside' ... think doctors, lawyers, computer people and the military."

Speaking at a UK Strategic Communication Management Summit, Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times explored the use of business jargon. As the writer behind the FT's Martin Lukes column, she's more familiar than most with jargon that - at worst - can lead to what she describes as "woolly language that masks woolly thinking - or no thinking at all."

Business jargon that makes Lucy's blacklist includes:

  • to drive - only acceptable when there is a steering wheel involved;
  • to own - as in "the team owns the change initiative;"
  • to grow - you can grow tomatoes, not the bottom line;
  • to deliver - instead of "delivering added value," you could say you are doing your job well;
  • solutions - this has become a particularly meaningless catch-all.

Lucy told the gathering there are numerous reasons people use business jargon ranging from a need to sound knowledgeable or be 'in the club' to a more sinister desire to mask the truth. Corporate communicators, she said, have a duty to use clear, fresh and interesting language.

But even the Financial Times columnist admitted sometimes there is no alternative - there's no quicker, more logical way to describe "benchmarking" or "outsourcing", she said.

In true columnist style Kellaway selected one annual report in particular to ravage and demonstrate her point. Apparently - but I haven't been able to confirm it - the report states that the company's "capabilities are global, track record is proven," and its "passion is relentless." Passion, she told the audience, means "having easily roused emotions, intense, easily angered, or sexually ardent," while relentless means "pitiless, merciless." Putting these two together paints a rather alarming organisational picture. The culprit? Accenture.

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