Some things should just stay on the inside…

No more jargon please!

How long did it take you before you started speaking that weird language?

How long after you arrived at your new job until you started talking in terms you had never even heard of before?

How long before you were sucked into the bottomless pit that is Jargon?

We’ve all been there. First day at the new job and you get to meet a lot of people, shake a lot of hands and basically just smile a lot as you try to keep up and remember everybody’s name.

You read the sales brochures. You read the corporate brochure. The mission statement. You scan the website. And have no clue what your new colleagues are on about. Their language is foreign to you.

For a second you panic. What have I gotten myself into? I can’t understand these people!

Those first weeks are always strange. People in corporations always speak their own language. It is filled to the brim with abbreviations that make absolutely no sense. It is like somebody took 100 management classes and mixed them all up. It is gibberish.

It is Corporate Speak.

Unless you actually know what those abbreviations mean.

Unless you are hip to the lingo.

It is the language we speak on the inside. It is our jargon. And you had better start using it, if you want to fit in. So… you adjust. You learn the jargon. You speak the language. And before you know it you start boring the pants off of people you know with your brand new jargon.

You have been assimilated.

And that’s alright. Jargon means you don’t have to explain what you mean every time. You just use the abbreviation. It speeds things up. Makes it nice and quick.

Alright. No problem…

As long as you keep it on the inside. Don’t take it outside. Never take your jargon outside!

And that is where the so-called doo doo makes impact on the so-called ventilator.

Go to a website of any large corporation and what did they do? They filled their site to the brim with… Jargon. Corporate messages. Certificates. Management Talk. Brochure speak. A lot of …

I am sorry; I dozed off for a moment reading your site.

Why? Because everybody on the inside said it was important to put ALL THAT JARGON on the website.

And to them it is absolutely logical that their jargon be placed on the website. They are Nerds.

I don’t mean that in a bad way, they just know a lot about a very small portion of the company. They are enthusiastic about their job and want the world to know. And their world has its own jargon.

There is the technical jargon. The sales jargon. The management jargon. The marketing jargon. The HR jargon. And everybody wants a piece of the site.

It is mandatory that their jargon is seen! It is very important… In their little world.

You must put that jargon on the website! Or else!

Or else what? Your readers might actually be interested?

There is a reason jargon should stay inside your corporation. Because everybody that visits your website responds like you did that first day on the job.

What. Are. You. Talking. About?

Jargon is the language of the inside. Don’t bore people on the outside with it.

And please - don’t fill your website with it.