by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: March 19, 2010

Business jargon and acronyms are hard to decipher and they are irritating to readers of business related articles and to listeners who are attending seminars and who need to know precisely what has been written, or what is being said.

Business jargon defined means "the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group." That is the second listing of this Middle English, 14th century word, the first is "confused unintelligible language". And that is precisely what it is. It is a language designed so that groups, medical, business, technical, scientific, and others, can easily understand each other, and kept within that frame work and within their special purposes, it works well and is useful, but to the uninitiated, it is often unintelligible.

It is workplace wording, ludicrous except to those  aware of what is being said. Therefore when talking to clients, and lecturing to public groups, jargon has no place. how many of us understand the special language of the medical world thoroughly? Often, otherwise knowledgeable and compassionate doctors and nurses are so well versed in their particular professions they somehow forget how to talk to their patients in easy to understand words. They seem to think that everyone knows what they are talking about, but everyone does not.  

No matter how high sounding and how smart jargon sounds, there are simpler words that cuts through the technical applications and makes what is being said comprehensible. Else why talk or write? Those in the know should reserve their jargon for their associates and for those of like concerns, and, at least attempt to make their speech less confusing.

Acronyms are especially annoying. This is the practice of using the first letter of a phrase designating an organization or a company or a concern, and putting them together  as a word. This is supposed to clarify but the practice is so common, that the uniformed that do not deal with the specifics everyday, often don't know what hidden words are contained in acronyms. As an example, imagine reading a email newsletter that is full of acronyms but without explanations. What are they talking about will be the response. There are rules governing the use of acronyms when writing and they should never be forgotten.

Any time an acronym is used in writing, the first time used it's full meaning must be spelled out. Thereafter in the writing, it can be inserted as a shortcut with out alluding to the phrase. There

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