Business jargon: Don’t hate, eliminate

In a rollicking MyRagan blog discussion, communicators chortle at business jargon; in the aftermath, they talk about how to avoid using it

Many communication gripes are common, but few are universal.

While most communicators will grumble about long approval chains, some are reassured to know their articles have been so widely fact-checked.

Many communicators want credibility with senior management. But others are happy writing, editing, taking pictures and proofreading while their boss plays politics.

Almost every communicator wants freedom to experiment with social media, but there’s always a scowling pessimist saying, “You people must be crazy!”

But the enemy all communicators have in common, as MyRagan blogger Jeff Dunsavage found out when a short blog post on “A few favorite acronyms” generated 31 comments in a few days, is business jargon.

“The biggest problem with jargon,” says Dunsavage, a communications manager for the Information & Media segment of McGraw-Hill Cos., “is that its users often don’t recognize it as such.”

But communicators sure do!