Don't be a "Jargon Jrip"
I just made up the word “jrip” and the phrase “jargon jrip.” It’s like drip (as in seriously uncool person, common in the late 1950s/early 1960s)–except it begins with a j to go with jargon.
And I made it in response to these couple of lines that showed up in my e-mail (name withheld to protect the guilty):
an Internet-wide shared-user system for user-centric demographic/privacy control, personalization, advertising and content payment aggregation.
Now, I’m a professional writer; I work with words every day. I know what every one of those words means individually, but they make absolutely no sense when strung together. I have no idea from that phrase what this person is talking about. Other parts of the press release and announcement tell me that he wants to establish a new social network that includes an e-commerce component. But the difficult phrase was in the first sentence! I don’t think most people will get far enough to figure it out.
It’s technobabble like this that gives corporate communications in general, and corporate-speak press releases in particular, a bad name. As a copywriter, I make it my business to try to eliminate that kind of press release from the business toolkit, and replace it with press releases that actually communicate both facts and emotion, yet stay out of the hype zone. When I see this sort of crap, it reminds me that we have a loooong way to go.
Clear writing communicates; jargon blocks communication. Down with jargon! Don’t be a jargon jrip!
A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Shel Horowitz, Shel Horowitz. Shel Horowitz said: @MarketingProfs You're very welcome, Ann. 2 of mine on same subject: https://bit.ly/40zRSN (jargon cop), https://bit.ly/2Z0vnX ("jargon jrip") […]
[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onPrincipled Profit » Donâ??t be a â??Jargon Jripâ??Here’s a quick excerptA blog about business ethics from Shel Horowitz, expert on business ethics as a success driver. This blog covers the intersections of ethics, politics, media, marketing, and sustainability. About Shel: Copywriter, marketing and … […]
Shel, I couldn’t agree with you more. Jargon is only useful in a conversation between people who are knowledgeable members of the same “community” that spawned the jargon terms. Jargon usually develops as a verbal “shorthand” for complex concepts that would otherwise require a lot more words to communicate. The problem is that jargon becomes a kind of shibboleth (language or practice that identifies the members of a group) that has little or no meaning to the uninitiated. That’s when the jargon becomes less about communication and more about ego and elitism.
As a web developer, jargon is a regular part of my daily life, but using it with my customers would be stupid. They wouldn’t understand me, and using the terms would make them feel ignorant and frustrated. As a self-publisher of books and articles, much of my writing is careful to avoid jargon or to specifically shed light on the meaning of common jargon terms. My book Web Business Success is a good example of that.
Shel, I couldn’t agree with you more. Jargon is only useful in a conversation between people who are knowledgeable members of the same “community” that spawned the jargon terms. Jargon usually develops as a verbal “shorthand” for complex concepts that would otherwise require a lot more words to communicate. The problem is that jargon becomes a kind of shibboleth (language or practice that identifies the members of a group) that has little or no meaning to the uninitiated. That’s when the jargon becomes less about communication and more about ego and elitism.
As a web developer, jargon is a regular part of my daily life, but using it with my customers would be stupid. They wouldn’t understand me, and using the terms would make them feel ignorant and frustrated. As a self-publisher of books and articles, much of my writing is careful to avoid jargon or to specifically shed light on the meaning of common jargon terms. My book Web Business Success is a good example of that.