Don’t Be Guilty of Jargon

Use your “out-of-the-box” thinking to think of a new word

Are you constantly aiming to think “outside the box” or trying to “impact” your department’s growth? Then you’re guilty of using business jargon.

Although, I try to keep jargon out of my written and verbal communication, I must admit that I’ve been guilty of “reaching out” to people I’m trying to connect with.

According to an article on Forbes, most of us are guilty of using words that don’t really convey what we’re trying to say. While some of the phrases like Open the Kimono, which is a creepy way of saying revealing information, were new to me, most were familiar.

It pains me every time I hear someone say think “outside the box” – what box? What does that mean? How about looking at the problem from a different perspective?

The list in the article, The Most Annoying, Pretentious, And Useless Business Jargon, includes robust, vertical, scalable and one of my personal favorites impact (when used as a verb).  The authors also mention one of the most overused, meaningless phrases: corporate values.

Don’t be the person boasting about giving 110% or some tired-of-the-jargon wiseass may ask you why you didn’t give more. 

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