What is jargon? A way to recognize others : he speaks my jargon, we
already share something, we have the same knowledge on certain topics, we
belong the same profession=8A It's economic : I don't have to explain him
everything from the beginning, he knows all the basics=8A The conversation
can move on quickly.
Jargon is bad for those who don't know it. I can tell you : being european
from a non English speaking country I am often lost when I read you : what
means COBRA? NAIRU?=8A I don't know, I just don't know. So I go on
reading. And I usually get the meaning.
The trouble comes when you use jargon talking to someone who does not
belong to the community. But then the jargon is not in cause, it's your
judgement : because you trust him, because you meet him everyday, you
beleive he belongs to the same community. You're wrong. =46or
professionnal reasons, I am very often confronted to jargons. When I don't
understand, I just ask definitions. I noticed, people quite often don't
know the meaning. They use it, but they don't really know what an acronym
or a jargon's word stands for. It usually does not matter, they understand
well enough to participate in the conversation. Another personnal example
: for a long time I beleived that IMHO meant in my high opinion, in fact
it means in my humble opinion. I was wrong, but it did not make any
difference.
-- Bernard Girard <bgirard@Dialup.FranceNet.fr>