Nonprofit and religious organizations are notorious for jargon. When I started at my current job, I was handed several books and a six page document of acronyms!
Over the years I have started to become immune to it. Until someone new starts; then I find my antennae up listening for jargon and acronyms so I can fill them in, sparing them the embarrassment of constantly raising their hand and asking for explanations. Even then, some slip by.
Even worse is when it starts to invade marketing materials. It’s hard to remember that the average person just becoming aware of your organization needs things explained in simple terms.
Even worse than having jargon in printed materials is having a lot of jargon repeated several times on a website. I realize that the writer is probably just trying to maximize SEO, but come on people–there has to be a balance between search engine optimization and readability.
An SEO copywriter walks into a bar, grill, pub, public house, Irish, bartender, drinks, beer, wine, liquor…
~ popular Twitter joke
I was trained in journalism before moving over to writing marketing/PR copy, and I was lucky enough to work for a great startup ad agency. They told me to “write like ya talk.” I think that’s great advice.
Other tips to avoid jargon:
- Have interns or new employees review copy (this one is my favorite)
- Read copy aloud, imagining yourself speaking in front of an audience that doesn’t know your organization.
- Don’t let too many people wordsmith the same thing. (See video below)
I think this jargon is also polluted into different sectors. I worked many years in the human service field and my husband works in the computer science field. I feel your pain. Thanks for pointed this out.. It is very good to be aware of this even for writing post.
I started out in the military. We talked in code. AFSC, ETA, ETD, FOD, BDU’s, BVD’s, NCOIC, OIC, GC, TAG, MAC, SAC, TAC, IG….this was so ingrained in me that even after my enlistment ended 26 years ago, I know what all of this is.
These days, I just write like I talk 🙂
Peggy
Frazzledtofab.com
Coming from education, I have to say we are pretty notorious for jargon – it certainly isn’t reserved for nonprofs and religion! LOL! I try to remind myself to just KISS. People outside of the “industry” don’t know the lingo. Sometimes I’ll even ask my husband or children to read my stuff. That helps, too.
I’m in the sciences, and, as you might guess, jargon can be a big problem. The suggestions you have above are perfectly applicable to science writing, at least that done for the general public or for others outside our own fields of expertise. It’s easy to get lost in jargon. But with practice, a person can learn to de-jargonify themselves, or at least get good at defining terms on the fly.
I don’t know if I do or not. I try to keep it as simple as possible. I guess that’s one way of keeping the jargon out of your communication. Just a thought.