1. World problems
  2. Incomprehensibility of specialized jargon

Incomprehensibility of specialized jargon

  • Specialized jargon

Nature

Awkward, contorted syntax and the use of unfamiliar technical terms impede the communication of specialized (particularly scientific, academic and professional) knowledge, both to specialists in other disciplines and to the general public.

Claim

People are cut off from the world's knowledge by the use of specialized languages and forms. This has created a myth that only experts and intelligentsia can understand and use the wisdom of the humanities. People feel victimized by their lack of knowledge of 'in-group' terminology, believing that such wisdom is forever impossible for them to attain. The situation is further compounded by specialists who do not want to 'distort' their discipline through popularization. As an exasperated legal correspondent exclaimed, "Let the classics scholars argue in Latin and Greek, but let us get on with language of the people".

If you do not understand a particular word in a piece of technical writing, ignore it. The piece will make perfect sense without it.

Counter-claim

Like other tribal entities, corporations, professions and disciplines develop their own dialects as a way of linking members of the tribe and delineating their ranks. It bonds the user to the group and separates the user from the general society. It makes the user feel wanted. Professional gobbledygook contains coded messages which allows business to go on in a civilized manner and creates a neutral yet reassuring atmosphere for debate.

Broader

Obscurantism
Presentable

Narrower

Aggravates

Aggravated by

Deconstruction
Presentable

Related

Slang
Yet to rate

Strategy

Value

Metadata

Database
World problems
Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems
Subject
  • Language » Languages
  • Content quality
    Yet to rate
     Yet to rate
    Language
    English
    Last update
    Dec 3, 2024