Julie Beedon recently wrote:
"...groups who complain about 'jargon'
"...don't get me wrong I am not complaining about the groups (well
"only a little - I get angry thinking about them - but that is my
"problem)
"Once a group starts to do this I find I have several
"difficulties....
"1) I find it hard to communicate as I start to worry about every
"word and will they think it is jargon
"2) I find myself 'judging' them as anti learning - very unhealthy
"response on my part
"3) I feel misjudged myself - as if they think I am deliberately
"using words they don't know or might be unhappy with
"So ... I am not at my best (in fact I can be highly dysfunctional!!)
"Personally I really value new words and the learning that
"understanding them brings, often they help me to develop new
"paradigms because they are different - so how can I develop new
"ways of working with groups who hate jargon - what are they
"really saying?? I have some thoughts but would really value some
"help with this before I voice them - they are probably rooted in
"my dysfunctional prejudices!!
Julie,
When someone complains to me about jargon, I have learned to be grateful
for the feedback about what/how people are hearing/listening. It is a
good chance for an inquiry. What is jargon? When people examine this
together, they begin to see that one person's technical term is another's
jargon, and that I am always in danger when I begin to assume that others
will or can or should hear me on my own terms. In fact, I have become
much more interested in what others hear than in what I have to say.
If there was a jargon thread, I must have missed it. It is a word which
begs for the exploration of mental models, so I now love it whenever it
surfaces in a conversation.
-- Larry Hanawalt lhanawalt@aol.com