Reaching out for blue skies thinking, anyone?

It’s widely despised, easy to send up and frequently deplored, so why does jargon continue to flourish?

Luk Swiatek thinks about jargon a lot in his work as lecturer in Communication and Public Relations, at Massey University. He says jargon today is not specific to occupations, as it originally was, but describes “specialised vocabulary or sayings that are unique to particular groups of people”.

Yet it remains seductive. “There is an aspect that’s appealing because often it has a creativity to it with its metaphorical allusions,” says bluesky thinker Desiree Williamson, director of Communication Works, a company set up to help people, especially in business and the professions, express themselves more clearly. “It’s shorthand or code for a particular group,” which fosters a sense of belonging.

“There’s a legitimate place for specialist terms, including acronyms and expressions,” says Swiatek. “Group members, especially in workplaces, often need to communicate with each other quickly and effectively, and specialist expressions help them do that. Problems arise when jargon excludes or alienates others.”

Or when, says Williamson, it’s euphemistic. She mentions the time she changed accountants and her old provider left her a phone message asking why she’d delinked him. So much nicer sounding than “dumped”.

Jargon is also a great way of saying nothing and making it sound like something. According to a study of corporate mission statements quoted in the Harvard Business Review ,90 per cent mention “ethical behaviours”, 88 per cent talk about “commitment to customers” and 76 per cent blather on about teamwork and trust. In other words, they state nothing about their mission that makes it different from everyone else’s mission.

Jargon, especially in legal documents, has consequences, says Swiatek: “Contracts of different kinds are very often signed without people fully understanding what they say. I’ve seen industry research saying that one in four, and even one in three, people don’t understand the contracts they’re signing. People also become demotivated when they have to wade through extensive fine print and jargon.”

Williamson, who is based in Christchurch, takes this notion further. “It can mean people don’t have access to their rights and don’t fulfil their obligations. Take insurance companies — if you lived through the earthquake here you realise how a report can be very ambiguous and obfuscate things so you’re not aware of your rights. Language is power.”

What to do? “I like to use that quote from Quintilian,” says Williamson. “One should aim at being impossible to misunderstand rather than being possible to understand.”

And speak up.

“I think there is a tendency in New Zealand not to challenge that kind of business speak because it makes you feel part of the in group. Culturally, we’re averse to being direct, so it’s great when you get people who say: ‘What exactly does that mean?”’

In plain English: keep it simple, stupid.

What do they really mean? Agile: “Adaptable”, but usually a euphemism for reducing resources. If you’re employed in an “agile workspace”, good luck finding somewhere to sit.

Bandwidth: “Space” or “capacity”, but sounding much sexier in computer speak.

Bleeding edge: It’s not enough to be leading or cutting edge any more. We want to see blood.

Idea shower: Planning meeting. Paradigm shift: A new idea.

To solutionise: Or as it used to be called, “to solve”.

The solve: Or as it used to be called, “the solution”.

Sweet spot:“Best place” with slightly creepy sexual overtone.

Swim lane: Anything that can be described as an area of interest, even “the sports swim lane”. Thoughtware: Ideas.