We live in a world of buzzwords, jargon, tech talk, acronyms and wordplay. Every day, it seems like a new catch phrase or set of key talking points emerges. Some are key to a specific industry, some are technical in nature and describe a specific situation and some are just catchy for the sake of being catchy. I’ve decided to lay out a few of those examples here and to help in your own communications.

Why Buzzwords and Jargon are a good idea: Jargon especially, but buzzwords also, can be very helpful. If there’s something specific you are trying to quantify, the jargon that goes along with it can mean the difference between accuracy and failure. For instance, how many of you know what a megahertz is? a horsepower? a sample demographic? a niche market? All of these things bring up a specific idea that can be measured, such as the speed of a computer, the power a car makes, a specific group of people or a specific segment to market. This is where jargon and buzzwords can be useful and, when used sparingly, can be good for your marketing.

Why Buzzwords and Jargon are awful: Oh, Buzzwords, how you’ve forsaken us with your “ROI”, “information superhighway”, “Enterprise Level Service” and “Next Generation Framework”. What does any of this really mean? The simple answer is that it’s a word or set of words that once may very well have been technical jargon but has now been used so poorly by so many people to describe so many things that they are completely useless. Take ROI, or Return on Investment, for instance. This used to mean that you put X dollars into something in hopes of getting Y dollars back out, while assuming that in the end, Y will be greater than X. Now I hear ROI in reference to everything from the energy you use during a workout to the amount of sauce packets you put on your tacos to how much time you spend with your kids. It’s just wrong!
Don’t even get me started on framework, enterprise level anything and infoexpresssuperautobauns. These things used to mean something, and now they’re vague exchange is the fodder of comedians and clueless middle management.

So when is it good to use Jargons and Technical Terms and Buzzwords? Here are a few situations where this is appropriate:

• If a new technology emerges and there is a technical measurement
• If you have a proprietary chemical compound, scientific base or industry specific term.
• When referring to a brand name
• When comparing one technology or idea to another
• When speaking with professionals in your industry on a technical level
• When communicating technical ideas to non-technicals (and use this sparingly, as you can easily lose the point)

So for all you wordaphiles and technorati out there, get with the program. Buzz is dead, but being technical lives on.