A quick guide to jargon-busting in storytelling #2

Towards the end of last year I suggested some reasons as to why we should avoid written jargon in the workplace. To summarise, too much jargon risks putting people off reading what you have to say, either because it becomes incomprehensible or because it simply bores them (or both). If this happens, your audience is much less likely to support your cause or buy your product.

Here are a few more examples of phrases or terms that we could really do without. In truth, some aren't really jargon at all, and are either euphemisms or simply lazy replacements for what we really should be saying. Both of these can be just as dangerous as too much jargon. The simple truth is that people often use jargon, euphemisms or lazy replacements in written text because they think it sounds impressive. It doesn't.

Bandwidth

Offline

Impactful

Deep dive

Disruptive/disruptor

Going forwards

Bandwidth

Whilst the word itself can only have been around as long as the internet, 'bandwidth' has already been co-opted as a euphemism. When asked to undertake a task at work, we all know it's too impolite –?possibly outright dangerous – to say "I haven't got enough time to do this" when asked to take on a task. So instead we end up saying "I don't have enough bandwidth." And we use that particular word, I guess, because it sounds technical (as it is in its true meaning), possibly even mysterious. Here's an idea – why not let's be honest? Why not let's start saying "Sorry boss, I haven't got enough time to do this." After all, whose fault is that really?

Offline

Another gem from the world of the internet. In face-to-face, physical meetings, I often hear people say after a while that "we should discuss this offline". It doesn't seem to occur to them that they are already offline: the metaphor is simply redundant. Again, what is wrong with saying "we should discuss this at another time?" It's not as though it has the same bluntness as 'bandwidth', and it's also very clear what you mean.

Impactful

Part of the problem with 'impactful' is how ugly it sounds, which is the big giveaway. It's another word that has been made up since the western world (the UK in particular) became obsessed with targets, especially in the public sector. By all means, something can have "major impact" but "impactful results" should just be scored out. As it's original meaning is – roughly speaking – something that collides with something else, I suspect it's used to try to demonstrate the wham-bam effect of whatever an organisation is doing. Except not all results need to be so super-charged. Instead, how about "affect" (a verb) or "effect" (a noun)??

Deep dive

This seems to have become popular quite recently. If one were to take a deep dive (presumably into water), by definition it couldn't last long. And yet this is precisely the opposite meaning that the phrase seems to have. What is wrong with "let's examine this more closely" or perhaps "let's look at this in greater detail/ in more depth?"Another problem with 'deep dive' is that whatever you are 'diving' into may not seem very 'deep' at all, and the alternative phrases have sufficient nuance to obviate this.?

Disruptive/disruptor

I first heard this used in 2015, and sadly shows no signs yet of dying out. Do people who use this word have any idea of its true meaning? It's (almost) synonymous with 'destructive', which is surely not what you want to be doing in the workplace: after all, you wouldn't go into a job interview saying "My great skill is that I'm a destroyer". 'Disruptive' has come to replace 'innovative', and it's time now to re-use the latter.?

Going forwards

This phrase is just pointless. Really, that's almost all I can say about it. If one is talking about future activities – that is, writing or speaking about something in the future tense – then by definition they will be in the future: in terms of time, you can only go forwards and not backwards. So with almost any phrase at the end of which your first draft contains "going forward", you can simply strike it out and the sense will change not one jot. If you really need to, you can use the more informal expression "from now on" or the much more formal "henceforth" (a personal favourite).

Do you have any phrases or words that you feel are simply wrong or have become over-used? I'd love to hear some more examples, and I could add them to a future post!

And as always, if you feel that you or your organisation could do with some help to improve your corporate storytelling, then don't hesitate to drop me a line on [email protected]