Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

We continue to use too much jargon. Are we illiterate or just too lazy to type words?

I am reviewing materials for a certification. Gosh, I am too old for this, but whatever. I won’t mention the name of the certification. I you continue reading this post, you can probably guess which one it is.

Studying for this, and most, certifications is an exercise in memorizing jargon or terms that people who work in these fields like to use as abbreviations for things that would otherwise make sense. Here is an example:

Given a situation, what would be a good first step in the analysis?

• pharming
• threat hunting
• footprinting
• war flying

Instead of using meaningless jargon, how about we write a sentence describing these analysis steps so that a thinking adult can decide what to do? Well, I can think of at least two explanations for the use of jargon. (Given more time, I am sure we can find more explanations.)

• Using a made-up term relieves me of typing ten or twenty words. All that typing is hard work.
• Using a made-up term relieves me of thinking about what I want to say and saying what I have thought. All that thinking is hard work.

Hmmm, there seems to be a desire to avoid hard work. I sure avoid hard work when easy work is available. Still, some worthwhile things come from hard work.

Folks who work in niche fields like to have their own jargon. The jargon defines their identity. If you know why “biff” was an early necessity in the email world, you are kin to me. We can bond over that. That feels pretty good. It is simply too bad for others if they don’t understand are side conversations. They aren’t us.

Please speak and write in English. It isn’t that difficult and it greatly improves communication. Let’s do better.