I used to have a manager that would use phrases like this to make him seem smarter. He was terrible at it, and it really just made him a recurring punchline.
'Task saturated' was used in an emergency response meeting I was in at work. The person using it was sincere (as in: focus on one task at a time...work through the checklists...don't be afraid to delegate), but it wrecked me. It was the one thing I took away from the meeting. lol.
Do you think Office Space created a kind of office-jargon feedback loop? People started making fun of TPS reports and all that, but then they sort of learned that there's this secret way you can talk, too. I know OS was making fun of this phenomenon because it already existed in Corporate America, but it seems to have gotten vastly worse over the last 25 years or so.
I mean, I'm sure some of the most common buzzwords like "synergy" and "circle back" are just popular tropes people keep repeating. But self-important, unnecessarily complicated wording in the workplace absolutely exists.
In the military all the acronyms made it so that you had to translate your language to English. Moral Welfare and Recreation, MWR was the first culprit for me. I'd say "I just went on a MWR trip to my family and they'd first want to know what MWR was and then hearing what it stood for still didn't understand that there was an organization just for military members to practice what we now just call self-care!
We really never had such a term as "self-care" before like the 2000s, did we? I guess maybe "self-care" was previously conflated with weakness or laziness, but fortunately more and more folks are realizing that it's just a matter of putting your own oxygen mask on before helping others.
Jargon monoxide is an excellent description for acronyms being created for nearly everything imaginable.
Vis: DOJ, Department of Justice; IRS, Internal Revenue Service; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GOP, Grand Old Party, today’s Republican Party; etc., ad nauseam.
In some cases acronyms are excellent descriptors for people whose names are repugnant, like TFG, for example. TFG is the acronym for Trump as The Former Guy, aka, president. Merely thinking, spelling out or saying his name makes my stomach churn; TFG not so much.
I once worked in a Federal agency that used acronyms for virtually everything, I think because their attorneys used defined terms (DT’s) to describe literally every type of document or action imaginable; acronyms were the only way to keep DT’s straight without resorting to DT word vomit. As part of a public outreach speech to several thousand folks, I gave a 1-minute monologue example of two agency staff members having a conversation about typical issues that used only those acronyms. The audience was very confused initially but quickly understood the humor and that their frustrations in dealing with the agency were common, but resolvable with an acronym dictionary (which we updated frequently and handed out as a public service —the internet was so new that Yahoo was just getting started).
Now my children and grandchildren remind me daily that language drift is very much alive and well. Their speech and descriptions about computer games, TikTok, Pokémon cards, etc., are so infused with the jargon of their times that I need a current and frequently updated Jargon Monoxide dictionary —Yay for AI and GPT!
You bring up an excellent point: it's much, much easier to figure out what the jargon means today than ever in the past. I wonder if that removes any of the effectiveness of the gatekeeping aspect of jargon... surely it still works in person, in real time, but the mere fact that people can just go look on their phones during their lunch breaks may break some of that spell.
Not sure about gatekeeping. I’ve always viewed learning jargon as part of the indoctrination process involved in becoming a part of any group. All groups have their own coded language and it’s clear who’s on the inside and not. For Project 2025 there is a definite gatekeeper in their loyalty oath. Is that the type of gatekeeper you’re suggesting?
No, I was talking about language use specifically, but you can certainly find plenty of examples of common language among any cult. This one's no exception.
I agree with you- jargon and argot are code-switching forms of English that are often used by gatekeepers in job circles and leisure activities to keep unwanted outsiders out. And that can bleed into treating outsiders with racism, sexism, etc. Science fiction used to have a huge problem with that, but the genre has become way more inclusive in the 21st century (despite pushback from white-people-first subcultures like the infamous "Sad Puppies").
However, with regard to certain spheres, they can be quite interesting to look at, particularly to the degree that they diverge from standard English. Show business, from vaudeville up to the current YouTubers, has many such things. And the forever evolving nature of Black American English is something I have found very fascinating, particularly its use in music.
Agree completely - diverging from standard English is always interesting to me! I love the evolution of Black English over time, too. The Black friends I grew up with as a kid taught me a lot of lingo I hadn't ever heard before, and I'm eternally grateful to have grown up not caring whether a kid was white, black, brown or whatever... do they want to play football or baseball? Sounds good to me.
In my work niche, workplace data analysis for the state, I was plagued with very little jargon. We all talked freely about NAICS, ICDs, OIICS, and various categories of industries and injuries, but our state, agency, and section leaders mostly spoke plainly.
One of the PMs (Project managers - the jargon's pervasive) where I work has a great way of speaking plainly, so that people from any department can understand her. Instead of "Does the financial/productivity benefit of thispcorporate goal outweight the resources spent in development?" She'll just say, "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"
Ha! That's starting to sound like jargon to me now (the juice/squeeze thing), probably because i lean on it too much. But you're right: everyone gets it immediately. Simple analogies are good ones when they work well!
As bad or worse are the acronyms the DoD uses. It's a whole new language. At least this jargon can be deduced. Acronyms must be interpreted.
Acronyms or abbreviations? I need to write about that next.
Acronyms. Acronyms dominate the world!
What are some of your faves? I may use some in an upcoming article.
Maybe that's our next collaboration? It can get instane. Even in the business side of the house not only DoD
I could probably write a couple paragraphs with nothing more than acronyms as the main nouns which need a rosetta stone
Sounds good! Let me do the thing about the difference between the two first, and then do a specific dive into some of the ridiculousness.
Did you do a holistic check across all touch points? I wish I could be more proactive in helping you surface solutions, but I'm task saturated.
Aka- can you check your own work or ask somebody else? I’m busy as fuck. I don’t care about your issues.
Lol. Yes!
Is "an holistic" a real thing? Do people you know really say that? It took me a really long time to start saying "an historical" such and such.
I used to have a manager that would use phrases like this to make him seem smarter. He was terrible at it, and it really just made him a recurring punchline.
'Task saturated' was used in an emergency response meeting I was in at work. The person using it was sincere (as in: focus on one task at a time...work through the checklists...don't be afraid to delegate), but it wrecked me. It was the one thing I took away from the meeting. lol.
Corporate America is weird.
I'll need to circle back and take this offline.
That's a straight shooter with upper management potential!
Your post has potential but will it scale?
Let's take it offline and see if we can identify any beneficial synergies.
Do you think Office Space created a kind of office-jargon feedback loop? People started making fun of TPS reports and all that, but then they sort of learned that there's this secret way you can talk, too. I know OS was making fun of this phenomenon because it already existed in Corporate America, but it seems to have gotten vastly worse over the last 25 years or so.
I mean, I'm sure some of the most common buzzwords like "synergy" and "circle back" are just popular tropes people keep repeating. But self-important, unnecessarily complicated wording in the workplace absolutely exists.
I've faced plenty of it over the years. Even wrote about one episode 10 years ago: https://nest-expressed.com/2014/09/24/keep-it-simple-stupid/
That's solid. Do you think you'll republish it here?
Yeah I guess it will eventually make it to the reincarnated Nest Expressed Substack.
Are you planning to do much original writing over there as well, or is it mainly to resurrect the old concepts and maybe polish 'em a bit?
It's the latter to begin with, but I might get inspired to do more fiction or other non-AI posts one day. Then I'll have a place for it.
I laughed out loud! 🤣
The 2nd worse jargon (after corporate America) is architectural design critiques/discussion at university 🙄
Ooh, got any good examples?
Worst*
Jargon is an invaluable tool if you want to talk a lot but not be saying anything. Popular with psycho killers. Ques Que Se?
Japan is popular with psycho killers, or jargon is?
In the military all the acronyms made it so that you had to translate your language to English. Moral Welfare and Recreation, MWR was the first culprit for me. I'd say "I just went on a MWR trip to my family and they'd first want to know what MWR was and then hearing what it stood for still didn't understand that there was an organization just for military members to practice what we now just call self-care!
We really never had such a term as "self-care" before like the 2000s, did we? I guess maybe "self-care" was previously conflated with weakness or laziness, but fortunately more and more folks are realizing that it's just a matter of putting your own oxygen mask on before helping others.
“Let me open the kimono” is a phrase that I found online while doing story research for examples of the worst corporate jargon.
Yeah, that is really horrible. I say this as someone who wears a kimono (BJJ gi) on a very regular basis!
Jargon monoxide is an excellent description for acronyms being created for nearly everything imaginable.
Vis: DOJ, Department of Justice; IRS, Internal Revenue Service; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GOP, Grand Old Party, today’s Republican Party; etc., ad nauseam.
In some cases acronyms are excellent descriptors for people whose names are repugnant, like TFG, for example. TFG is the acronym for Trump as The Former Guy, aka, president. Merely thinking, spelling out or saying his name makes my stomach churn; TFG not so much.
I once worked in a Federal agency that used acronyms for virtually everything, I think because their attorneys used defined terms (DT’s) to describe literally every type of document or action imaginable; acronyms were the only way to keep DT’s straight without resorting to DT word vomit. As part of a public outreach speech to several thousand folks, I gave a 1-minute monologue example of two agency staff members having a conversation about typical issues that used only those acronyms. The audience was very confused initially but quickly understood the humor and that their frustrations in dealing with the agency were common, but resolvable with an acronym dictionary (which we updated frequently and handed out as a public service —the internet was so new that Yahoo was just getting started).
Now my children and grandchildren remind me daily that language drift is very much alive and well. Their speech and descriptions about computer games, TikTok, Pokémon cards, etc., are so infused with the jargon of their times that I need a current and frequently updated Jargon Monoxide dictionary —Yay for AI and GPT!
You bring up an excellent point: it's much, much easier to figure out what the jargon means today than ever in the past. I wonder if that removes any of the effectiveness of the gatekeeping aspect of jargon... surely it still works in person, in real time, but the mere fact that people can just go look on their phones during their lunch breaks may break some of that spell.
Not sure about gatekeeping. I’ve always viewed learning jargon as part of the indoctrination process involved in becoming a part of any group. All groups have their own coded language and it’s clear who’s on the inside and not. For Project 2025 there is a definite gatekeeper in their loyalty oath. Is that the type of gatekeeper you’re suggesting?
No, I was talking about language use specifically, but you can certainly find plenty of examples of common language among any cult. This one's no exception.
I agree with you- jargon and argot are code-switching forms of English that are often used by gatekeepers in job circles and leisure activities to keep unwanted outsiders out. And that can bleed into treating outsiders with racism, sexism, etc. Science fiction used to have a huge problem with that, but the genre has become way more inclusive in the 21st century (despite pushback from white-people-first subcultures like the infamous "Sad Puppies").
However, with regard to certain spheres, they can be quite interesting to look at, particularly to the degree that they diverge from standard English. Show business, from vaudeville up to the current YouTubers, has many such things. And the forever evolving nature of Black American English is something I have found very fascinating, particularly its use in music.
Agree completely - diverging from standard English is always interesting to me! I love the evolution of Black English over time, too. The Black friends I grew up with as a kid taught me a lot of lingo I hadn't ever heard before, and I'm eternally grateful to have grown up not caring whether a kid was white, black, brown or whatever... do they want to play football or baseball? Sounds good to me.
In my work niche, workplace data analysis for the state, I was plagued with very little jargon. We all talked freely about NAICS, ICDs, OIICS, and various categories of industries and injuries, but our state, agency, and section leaders mostly spoke plainly.
Plain is good, for the most part!
They even called their requirements for communications "plain talk," which I guess is itself jargon of a sort.
One of the PMs (Project managers - the jargon's pervasive) where I work has a great way of speaking plainly, so that people from any department can understand her. Instead of "Does the financial/productivity benefit of thispcorporate goal outweight the resources spent in development?" She'll just say, "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"
Ha! That's starting to sound like jargon to me now (the juice/squeeze thing), probably because i lean on it too much. But you're right: everyone gets it immediately. Simple analogies are good ones when they work well!
Excessive Jargon only proves that the person is a fool trying to vie attention.
Sadly, it also clouds communication. That's why we need to be concise when we speak.
All this jargon just to cover the emptiness of what we say.
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.
Say something once, why say it again?