Busted!

MY KIDS FINE ME A QUARTER EVERY TIME THEY HEAR ME SWEAR. Now, I was never one to swear a lot (except the summer I spent as a pest control man), but there are times when it just feels good to let out with some choice expletive. Of course, that's not the example one really wants to set for their kids, so I've gone along with their scheme to get paid whenever they hear something they probably shouldn’t (at least from my wife and me; I can’t be paying up every time they hear something on TV or the street or at a sporting event).

For many of us (most of us?), curse words roll off our tongues by habit. And the same goes in business situations with jargon. People use their particular flavor of jargon by habit — and within one’s company, jargon can help speed up the exchange of information and ideas.

But when you go outside your company . . . using jargon (your jargon) is worse than me swearing in front of my kids. In the case of my swearing, the boys get it, but I don’t necessarily want them to repeat it. In the case of jargon, your audience may not get it, which sets back your communications in small to large ways.

[To be clear, when I say “jargon”, I’m talking about words that are not in common use by the people you’re speaking to. If you use some arcane term and they use it, too, then for the both of you it’s common language, not jargon.]

You’ve probably read or heard or realized this idea before, so here’s the twist for today:

Fine yourself every time you use some bit of jargon.

Do this whenever you slip up in front of a prospect, client, or customer (well, maybe after you’re in front of them). In fact, give yourself a BIG fine if you use jargon with this group, to provide a strong incentive for being clear, rather than casual, in your word choices.

While you’re at it, why not start a pool at the office? Fine each other when someone uses jargon, and see how quickly the pot grows. If jargon is pervasive, you might have a hell of a fabulous party with all those funds.

If you need help rooting out jargon, in your own usage or that of your colleagues, check out this earlier post: Jargon-B-Gone.