Re: Jargon... LO3227

BARAK ROSENBLOOM (REGION#u#10.ETA.ROSENBLOOMB@DOLETA.GOV)
Tue, 17 Oct 1995 20:09:27 -0500

Replying to LO3104 --

Earlier this year I was suffering through interminable meetings in an
airport hotel which was also the site of a conference of English teachers.
As a former English teacher, I thought it would be more fun to hang out
with them. After some enlightening discussions, I bought myself a coffee
mug with the motto "Linger over Language." I think those English teachers
have it right!

I'm not sure what to do about folks who deride jargon. I work in a
federal bureaucracy which is evolving quite nicely, and it seems that
there is a strange phenomenon concerning jargon. Bureaucrats (those
governed by rules) assign the strangest meanings to phrases and words.
These have no currency beyond the reach of the particular bureaucracy. Yet
these people are often the same ones who deride "jargon" and "jingoism"
and "fad of the week." For someone for whom rules (of organization, of
langauge, etc) are a driving force in making the world meaningful, and
"jargon" which is unattached to rules becomes meaningless.

My bias when encountering a group or an individual bound by rules is to
help break them out of that mindset. Sometimes I'll point to a table and
ask them what it is. Usually, they will say "a table." Then I ask them
to picture it with books and papers and a computer. Suddenly it is a
desk. Put 6 square tables together, jump up, and do a jig. Now you have
a stage, or maybe a dance floor.

Basically, you can do this with any object which can have multiple
meanings attached. In the right setting, I've found that people suddely
realize that the "thing" and the "name" are different, and quickly become
more receptive to looking at words as open concepts.

--
BARAK ROSENBLOOM <ROSENBLOOMB@DOLETA.GOV>