Bad choice of words

~ Veselin
Daily writing prompt
What’s a word or phrase that annoys you?
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I’ve developed an allergy to using the right buzzwords in the wrong order, or overusing them with the intent to convey a false sense of expertise. I wrote an article about this and pinned it to the right menu on my blog a few years ago but I’ve been observing this phenomena since the beginning of my engineering career.

I believe experts should explain difficult problems without resorting to lingo, adjusting their language according to their audience. If they don’t, we can’t really distinguish an expert from a bullshitter.

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18 thoughts on “Bad choice of words”

      2. I’m not sure if it’s Jetpack or a WordPress feature but when on the blog itself, type /img, select Image, and copy/paste the url from your media library.

        You can’t upload images to other people’s blogs but you can upload it to yours and copy the address.

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    1. Most cats are busy sending signals that they’re not a threat, which in their case means they’re looking away. As a result, you get all these photos of cats, looking disinterested.

      In cat language, this is more of a ‘I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me’.

      This particular cat came for pets.

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  3. As a scientist who works in environmental engineering. I think that if you can’t explain something without using buzzwords (or as few as possible), you are typically a bullshitter. And there are *a lot* of acronyms and jargon in environmental engineering — and some people in this field assume you keep up with all of them, especially in their pet fields of interest.

    Same goes for people who use 45-cent words when a 5-cent word works just fine. I am oh so very impressed that when someone uses “lepidopterist”, but it doesn’t require an audience to have a dictionary if they say “butterfly collector” instead.

    Nice kitty.

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    1. Exactly! With the exception that if everyone around the table is a butterfly collector, using the Latin term I think is okay. But when these terms drop out of nowhere onto an unsuspecting victim, not cool.

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      1. Yep, then it seems appropriate. But sitting around chatting at a party? Even when writing a technical memo or an email to a client, I always assume they prefer non-technical language unless the situation demands it. And then I often define it for them unless I am 100% certain they know the term.

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  5. If we assume that everyone is a stupid jamoke (technical term!) who sits around watching reality tv, and adjust our language accordingly, we can all live in peace and harmony. And we can all reside in peace and harmony when we’re dead too.

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