February 24, 2020. ANICICH: Using jargon is one thing that people think will impress others. Copyright © 2020 NPR. We’ve all experienced that. YOUNG: A phrase will kind of float into my head like a little rain cloud, like level setting. Research suggests jargon has many positives. So, let’s touch base on this business jargon. Jargon is everywhere. Or even, leveraging disruption? It captures distinctions that ordinary language can’t capture. She gives the example of those unread insurance policies we all have at the bottom of the drawer. We have detected that JavaScript is disabled on your browser. She recalls one boss who gave long PowerPoint presentations in a windowless meeting room with no air vents. Garbage Language ... the perfect corporate neologism. Thus, it is best used within specialised groups, relevant to that group. Jargon words can also promote bonding and group solidarity, and mark identity, she adds. MOLLY YOUNG: They're using it innocently. Nice to e-meet you. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: That's a win-win. But it's pervasive in the American workplace and never goes away. Here are five tips to improve the performance review process. (To produce the Index, the company analyzed 134 corporate jargon terms on Fortune 500 company websites, in press coverage, and on social media during the first quarter of this year.) On average, 15.13% of men dog on office jargon, compared to only 11.21% of women. The researchers found the mere presence of technical language a turn-off; a message to readers the story wasn’t written for them. Differentiating somewhat logical but annoying corporate speech from truly unnecessary jargon is more difficult than it might appear at first glance. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Overall, men have more passionate opinions toward jargon than women. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: All right. Why Corporate Jargon Never Seems To Go Away . Do you excel at blue sky thinking? A great elevator pitch can create interest in a project but less is definitely more. Other terms workers love to hate include “low-hanging fruit”, “the cloud” and the pretentious “leverage”. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: And we're making the world a better place through software-defined data centers for cloud computing. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. I'll loop you in. Buzzwords: The ‘new normal’ of business jargon. A puffed up way of describing important points.76. Most “killer apps” are dead within months of their introduction.77. There's new research into who uses jargon and why. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Let's get our ducks in a row here, guys. If you feel your language is a bit dry and colourless, try popping in more colloquial (informal) terms instead. But it's pervasive in the American workplace and never goes away. *Unprecedented times* Fuck, get it right GuitarStv. Accuracy and availability may vary. And what they concluded is that where you stand in a social hierarchy matters a lot. Best practice. YOUNG: What I can only describe as fake words, scammy (ph) words, like, BS words - so words like orientate or guesstimate or omnichannel or core competency. Essential workers: Jobs considered more essential than others under the “new normal”. And I'll just have a little shudder. « Reply #1 on: October 05, 2020, ... Not sure if it's considered jargon but definitely a new corporate "buzzword." Locktail: The lockdown equivalent of “wine o’clock”. American journalist Delia Paunescu kicked off a popular Twitter thread, asking users what their most hated email phrases were, racking up almost 100,000 likes, retweets and replies. But it's pervasive in the American workplace and never goes away. Acronyms, like the dreaded “KPI”, were another source of bile. “It does depend on whether you’re an insider or outsider as to whether you’re offended by it or not,” Professor Burridge says. “For something to be slangy and grab your attention it’s got to be new, it’s got to be exciting,” Professor Burridge says. There's new research into who uses jargon and why. NPR's Uri Berliner has a look at why it just won't go away. Hearing the new normal is the new normal. There’s no doubt about it, business jargon can be annoying. The tone is associated with managers of large corporations, business management consultants, and occasionally government. Please ensure JavaScript is enabled. Corporate lingo and office-speak. Key takeaways. Corporate jargon, variously known as corporate speak, corporate lingo, business speak, business jargon, management speak, workplace jargon, corporatese or commercialese, is the jargon often used in large corporations, bureaucracies, and similar workplaces. BERLINER: And then there's the more grandiose language so common in Silicon Valley. BERLINER: They looked at published studies and ran some experiments that tested when and why people use jargon. Killer app. BERLINER: Young worked at startups for nearly 10 years and says she knows the dialect only too well. Importantly, the study, by Ohio State University (published 2020) found defining the jargon words in the article made very little difference. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: There's definitely some synergy here. YOUNG: She would be sort of going on and on about deliverables, that we needed to operationalize certain processes in order to optimize shareability. Knowledge transfer. The perfect elevator pitch: Could you sell your great idea in 60-90 seconds? But it has become the poster child of corporate jargon… A performance review is an opportunity to look forward as well as give constructive feedback. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Can you put a deck together? 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