IT'S ANNOYING

Why do people use jargon? Sometimes it is a method of shorthand, especially in technology-related organizations. Surely that must be the case in the following paragraph, which a software company uses to describe its business niche. (Only the company's name has been changed.)

Company X has more than 25 years of experience in cross-platform application delivery. Our development and integration methodologies and our core competencies in cross-platform technology architecture, applications delivery, and e-business-enabling services allow us to deliver innovative solutions with assurance and speed.

According to Marjorie Garber, a professor of English at Harvard University and director of the school's Humanities Center, jargon isn't always a bad thing. She told the Harvard Business Review in 2001 that jargon is sometimes used to express ideas that are otherwise too difficult to explain. But people do have negative reactions to jargon, Garber conceded, and she suggested that these reactions come in two forms. Jargon either makes people feel like outsiders or makes them think that the individual spouting the jargon doesn't know what he or she is talking about.

I would add a third type of negative reaction to jargon. It is annoying because it makes things less clear and more confusing.