There are two types of jargon: industry jargon and bureaucratic jargon. Industry jargon, such as terms and acronyms specific to your business, can be used if you’re sure your readers will understand their meaning. For example, if you work in the financial field, you can use terms like MER (management expense ratio) and MBS (mortgage-backed securities) with your colleagues and know that they’ll understand you. But will your clients? It’s important to know your readers when deciding if industry jargon is acceptable.
Bureaucratic jargon, on the other hand, should always be avoided. If you haven’t heard the term bureaucratic jargon before, you might know its synonyms: legalese and business speak. This includes business buzzwords, like the ones below, that don’t enhance the meaning of your message but detract from it:
Let’s look at an example.
Before: At the end of the day, we need to drill down the reason why we aren’t getting the buy-in from the other departments.
Can you identify the business jargon? This sentence has three phrases: at the end of the day, drill down and buy-in. What can we say instead?
After: We need to look more closely at the reason why we aren’t getting the support from the other departments.
The phrase, at the end of the day, is not saying much to the reader and can be deleted. The other two phases can be replaced by shorter, everyday phrases.
Let’s look at another example.
Before: We are leaders in the field, championing the fight against poverty by thinking outside the box and using innovative solutions.
In this example, we have four common business jargon words and phrases: leaders, championing, outside the box and innovative solutions.
The word leader has become overused and often can be removed. Focus more on describing what topic or field you or someone else is a leader in. You can replace the verb champion with support. Instead of outside the box, you can use creative or imaginative. And finally, with innovative solutions means nothing. You have to explain in what way the solution is innovative. Here’s a possible rewrite:
After: We are supporting the fight against poverty by designing a new program that puts families in charge of creating, organizing and running their own support centre.
By avoiding jargon, your writing is conversational and compelling, and your readers will find your documents more engaging and enjoyable to read.
