Jargon is one of those necessary, unnecessary things in life, whether you condone it, or not, you probably use jargon yourself without even realising it! The trouble is, that unless you are actually working within the industry that uses the words, then they can sound really cheesy, and perhaps even rub you up the wrong way. In actual fact, if you run a business, then it should be one of your duties, to ensure that your staff don’t use jargon with customers because it can be confusing and generally irritating if you don’t know what the terms mean. So, whilst one of your employees might think that it sounds cool to use jargon terms, defo make it a top prio to school them into not using any of the following;
Lead by example
Remember that, as the business owner, you are supposed to be leading by example, and if your customers find jargon irritating, then perhaps some of your employees do too. Not only that, if you are happily using such ‘slang’ words around the office, then you can’t then expect your staff to act any differently, they’ll probably assume that you don’t know your SEO from your CEO! It’s no different than promoting something that isn’t for sale.
Jargon to avoid with employees, and customers
Let’s start with one of the most annoying, that you’ll likely hear being used in sales environments, a word that’s used to describe other words that are supposedly ‘the cutting edge’ when it comes to schmoozing in technical talk. They apparently help to get people into a positive mindset, and encourage people to engage, for most though, they have the opposite effect. Ready for it? ‘Buzzword!’.
You’d be correct to think that it’s probably not the most annoying term that you’ve ever heard, however it is THE word to describe other annoying words so, it has to come first! If you’re really lucky then you won’t have heard the term before and are wondering what on earth you’re reading, and “where are the meds”?. Well, it’s not a new term, in fact its been around since about the 1950’s so, there’s every chance it’s older than you are, how about that then?
Let’s get to it
Diving in headfirst, whether they’re spoken, or used in email chat, using terms like ROFL (rolling on the floor with laughter) Soz (sorry), tmz (tomorrow). LOL (laughing out loud) cul8r (see you later) and wuup2 (what are you up to?) is simply unacceptable. Unless you’re part of the club, you’ll have probably received an email like this at some point and thought something like, ‘what on earth went wrong with people?’
Now, moving on to some sayings that are probably a little more ‘professional’, but they’ve not quite hit the mark… Have you ever heard anyone say, or write “ping me” an email? Unless you know a little bit of tech talk this will completely bamboozle you! Technically speaking, ping is to send out a signal and to record the speed at which it either hits its mark, or hits it, and gets returned. The lower your ping, the better, it means that your Internet connection has a good response rate.
Are you still with us?
If you’re new to all these terms, and you’re still here then it’s probably out of pure curiosity more than anything else, and you would be the only one either… if you were a little unsettled, then just wait until you hear this! In America, there have been several surveys conducted that show that, employees of various offices, across numerous market sectors, nearly half of all people asked actually said that they preferred to use jargon than to speak properly and use laymen’s English terms, as they were designed, and meant for.
Check yourself, as some buzzwords are kind of OK
Sometimes buzzwords are appropriate, industry-appropriate, and occasionally the most effective method to convey a message. Buzzwords are fine as long as they are context-appropriate and the person with whom you are speaking can readily grasp what you are saying and is willing to engage in a discussion based on mutual comprehension.
According to, another survey, there are roughly twenty or so buzzwords that have been widely accepted as being ‘ok’ to use, starting with “at the end of the day”, if you’re anything like most people, then at the end of the day, you’ll be going home, not sure how this one came about but it’s deemed to be ok. More so, recently in the digital world of marketing, terms like “organic” are being used to describe leads that you haven’t had to pay out for, and, oddly enough, have nothing to do with food!
Moving on swiftly, some more buzzwords that you’ll have no doubt heard, and be ok with are “touch base,” “hold down the fort”, “scalable,” ASAP ” “a lot on my plate,” “all hands-on deck,” “all the bells and whistles,” and “cloud”. The last one though, people are still getting their heads around being the judge of it, try a few out and see what response you get.