I like your blog it's really cool
heidi | 11.09.05 - 8:58 am | #

Thanks.
John Wagner | Homepage | 11.09.05 - 10:09 am | #

Oh, John, I'm so with you.

One of the advantages of living abroad is that I miss most of the jargon fads in North America.

The downside, though, is that when it matters, I flounder.

I remember a dot.com reception in New York in 1999 where I was asked "so what space are you in?"... she could have been speaking Klingon for all I knew.

Allan
Allan Jenkins | Homepage | 11.09.05 - 3:20 pm | #

Allan:

I worked with a client once that kept us in stitches with his marketing lingo. He could string them together like nothing doing ... the 30,000 foot views, the net-net-nets, the drill downs, the granulars, all that stuff.

Entire paragraphs of sentences filled with catchphrases would flow from his mouth, connected only by a regular word or two.

It was amazing. We all just nodded our heads and acted like we understood what he was saying.

I missed the "what space are you in?" too ... what does that mean exactly??
John Wagner | Homepage | 11.09.05 - 3:35 pm | #

I agree -- as you know, I'm out to kill the term "paradigm shift" -- but frankly, I think one reason why technology firms, in particular, like to use jargon is that it works. It works on investors, and it works on customers. Using impressive-sounding words is the equivalent of the lady at the fancy boutique putting your purchase in a ridiculously expensively gift bag. And in both cases, you end up paying for it in the end.
scott baradell | Homepage | 11.10.05 - 7:52 am | #

Interesting post and comments. To Scott's point: Yes, sometimes it works, because some people are either daunted or impressed by language that they don't easily understand. But if given a choice, I think far more people will go with a service or a person who communicates clearly. I just posted another item on this at blogspotting.net. The idea: as technologies converge, people need to overcome jargon more than ever.
steve baker | Homepage | 11.10.05 - 10:36 am | #

Scott:

I agree with you in that tech people will look for that language, and if it's not there, they believe you haven't done a good job of communicating. Never mind that even tech people don't always understand what that jargon really means.

Steve, thanks for visiting and for commenting. I think most PR people are with you 100 percent ... if we could just the clients on board. But our job is to continue to push for more clear, concise, "real" language.
John Wagner | Homepage | 11.10.05 - 12:15 pm | #

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sppcomgyf | Homepage | 02.02.07 - 9:17 pm | #