jargon

10 April 2017

Jargon Alert: Time For Some “Market-Moving Dialogue”

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Knows Jargon Enough To Avoid It; image by Mabdul via Wikimedia Commons

Quick, can you guess what this company is selling?

“We provide a platform for market-moving dialogue by connecting decision makers through actionable exchange, revolutionizing the way 21st century companies create value.”

Although reading that is like chewing sand — but not as fun — too many execs think such jargon makes them sound “professional.” Instead, it makes them sound like con artists.

I take that back: a true con artist would use natural language that wouldn’t make their audience suspicious. Jargon makes the user sound like they’re hiding something — like a complete lack of talent.

By the way, if you guessed that pile of bull was referring to a business conference, you speak good jargon.

(Thanks to Kevin Elliott of Hill+Knowlton Strategies for sharing this quote, which he received in an email from a vendor.)

Tags : , , ,

Freddy is the Founder & Creative Strategist of Atomic Tango. He also teaches graduate-level marketing communication courses at the University of Southern California (go Trojans!), shoots pool somewhat adequately, and herds cats. Freddy received his BA from Harvard and his MBA from USC.

One Response

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.