Why We Hate Office Jargon So Much

when we talk to our coworkers. Later, we'll talk to Sarah Schaeffer, a comedian who has had a variety of jobs, including a five year stint at a law office, which served as the inspiration for her web series Day Job. But before we hear from her, a little background on jargon. Yeah, so you did. You've done some research on this, and you have actually delved into the history of some of

the earliest jargon. Yeah, I went deep on jargon. But before getting to the way back when, let's start with an actual definition from Oxford Dictionaries, which says jargon is special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand. I thought that last caveat was really important. So that's what makes it jargon is that it excludes people who are outside of that industry or a group that uses

those words. Kind of Yeah, it's it's meaningless to other people who aren't in that group, because I think every industry has its own terms, and sometimes you really need those terms. You can't really do your job if you don't have special definitions for some of the things you do. But that's not exactly jargon, right, There's another Like, the thing when we talk about jargon that makes us really angry is that it feels like it's words that we don't really need to be using. We just kind of

want to. Yeah, it's words, but when you think about them, it's like, what does that actually mean? But when you're using them, you you think you sound pretty good. So some of the favorites I think. I think the easiest one to make fun of is definitely synergy, right, because it sounds really stupid. Yeah, and it really doesn't mean much at all. Yeah, I don't, I don't know what

it means. It's I mean, these words become like so broad that it could have meant something at one time in somebody's head, but the definition is not widely shared among everybody that uses it. Yeah, if I hear someone say the word synergy, I immediately stopped taking them seriously, which is the opposite of what jargons should do. But they're there are less kind of nefarious ones. I would say, circle back, I see I just heard that yesterday, touch base. I don't know what are some of the ones you

hear a lot. I will circle back and touch base definitely are common. They're the I think the newer jargon word is the more you're like, really, why am I hearing this? Like one of the ones I hate is learnings, which is like a word that there's already a word for, which is lessons, And learning sounds stupid. It sounds like you're not really grasping the English language that well. It sounds kind of like something a preschool teacher might say,

like it's learning's time exact. But a lot of people emerge from meetings with key learnings that they want to share with you. And the amazing thing is that, like among a certain set, or at least among the people who are saying these things. They must think it makes them sound really smart. There's a lot of sports metaphors, like what touch base? That is a sports metaphors, ramp up a sports medal, I think so right, like rev up, I don't know rev up. People say let's run it

up the flagpole and see who salutes. I've never heard the second half of that. I've heard run it up the flagpole. Well everybody knows. Maybe you don't even need to say the second part anymore because it's so self explanatory, right, just running total f and then obviously someone will salute after it's been run up. There's a formal salute remaining

where that's mentioned. But yeah, so jargon goes back way back. Um, some of my research says it goes back to the sixteen hundreds and you had, like you, you had an original definition of jargon, which is pretty fitting. Oh yeah, the word jargon, before it was used and the way we use it now, came from the French word for birds twittering. Do you know the French word? No, I

do not speak French. Please don't play that on the show, please. Uh. But yeah, it started through letter writing people back in the days when they were traveling by ship to ship things. They would write letters to their business partners, and people just started using jargon to sound business e and convey certain things. And then people saw those letters and thought that's what you had to do, and so they continued using that jargon, which I think is how jargon gets perpetuated.

Like I see an email from a boss right saying something and I don't. I just it makes you feel like you should be using that word or phrase. I think it's a little bit subconscious. It's not like, oh, that's a smart person word, but it just gets downloaded into my brain. Yeah. I love the idea that it's been around for so long that like the idea of people getting behind this veil of talking in a certain

way isn't new at all. And it isn't necessarily about all the extra time we have at work to waste, or you know, new technologies, or all the usual suspects that we blame workplace culture things on like that. People have always been doing this. Yeah, and I wonder if email has made it slightly more prevalent, because it's kind of like letter writing. It is letter writing, so you see these words more often. You're using these words more often,

and I definitely see jargon a lot in emails. I think the thing about jargon is, as you said earlier, it's kind of a way to exclude people who aren't a part of your group. What's interesting is that the words we've been talking about, like circle back and touch base are kind of generic office words, but actually every industry has its own sub jargon, like there's it's almost like there's languages and there's dialects. And I actually prepared a short quiz for you, Becca, I don't worry. It's

very short. It's like winning well things right. Well, I'm going to give you some very easy words that you should have heard. English words. Nothing crazy. They have definitions, so I'll just read them off and you can tell me what they mean. Are you going to tell me what industry they come from. I'm just going to give you a word that I'm gonna do a word, and you tell me what you think that word means based on your experience as a human being living in the world. Okay,

got it? Okay, I'm ready? What Becca? Is a locust? A locust? I mean a bug? One of the ten plagues? Good, the passover? Later? Okay, I haven't. I mean context, right, That's what I look locust is. I think to most people, a locust is a type of bug. But in the nonprofit fundraising world, locusts are charitable donors who only give once every seven years. That is so specific and yet so meaningless. I mean, it has a meaning, so it's

not completely meaningless. But so you know, a bunch of fundraising folks sitting around over drinks can just laugh in sortal about locusts, and you're going to think that they're talking about a biblical plague. Okay, this is a word that you might actually not use that much in normal English language, but you've heard it. Reconstitution, free constitution. Obviously it means to write the constitution again, and it's used by legal scholars. Am I right? I feel like your

ambition is getting the better of you a little. I don't really think you should try to game the quiz back, because it's not a reconstitution. This is a word I actually got from. This is a public education word, and I actually got it from the Virginia Department of Ed, which publishes an entire glossary of terms. Because education is so thick with jargon that you know, you're in trouble when you need a glossary. Yeah, and it is for

a school rated accreditation denied. It is a process to initiate a range of accountability actions to improve pupil performance and to address deficiencies and curriculum and instruction may include, but is not limited to, restructuring a school's governance, instructional program, staff, or student population. So that is reconstitution in the Virginia Department of Education. That is a lot of definition. Yeah, for one word, Yeah, I feel like if you're if

you're getting reconstituted, it's not a good thing. But I'm not entirely sure. It does sound bad. Yeah, Okay, here's the final one. It's a fun one. What is a cast member? Somebuddy who as part of an ensemble? Were you ever a cast member? No, you never did any theater, and I was not. I was not gifted in that way. I wasn't. I can see you in Pirates of Penn Dance. I had some theater kid friends. I thought's as close as I got. I was inquired. Okay, you were one

of those kids. Yeah, that's fun. I like singing. Well, if you wanted to be a cast member, now, it would mean that you were actually a sales employee at the cosmetics chain Sophora. That is what they call they're on the floor sales staff cast members. They're not salespeople, they're not rouge hawkers. No, you are a cast member. I think it's a foora because you are putting on a beautiful show for the world. I guess we're acting

out the consumer's wildest makeup fantasies. The people at Separa are very nice, so so maybe so maybe that's maybe that's a great way to end the quiz because that is a big thumbs up plus one for dargon. The fact that they're called cast members makes them love their jobs so much that they're really nice. We should ask them about that for asserting that claim. But yeah, fair enough.

Now that we know where jargon comes from and how it plays into office life, I think it's a good time to introduce our guest, Sarah Schaeffer, who perfectly chronicled office life in day Job. Hey, Fred, Sarah, Sarah the comedian, tell me a joke. Can you even believe that? Meaning you gotta put that in your act. You're a comedian, Tell me one of your jokes. If you're looking for new material. This place is a zoo. Any plans tonight? So you got any plans this weekend? Yeah? I have

a show exciting. What do you want with that? Performing at Carolines Where Carolines? I love Carolines. No, it's a three minutes set in a basement underneath an adult DVD shopping Queen's Oh similar. Sarah's a writer and comedian. She has worked for MTV Jimmy Fallon, writing questions for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and has a new comedy

album out, Chrysalis. She also spent five years calculating damages for securities fraud cases at a law firm, which was the inspiration for that clip you just heard and many other funny ones just like it about the banality of office life. Sarah, thanks so much for coming and talking to us today. Thank you for having me So, Sarah, what made you decide to turn your five years working at a law firm into a web series? Um? Well,

it happened. Um you know, I made the web series many years later, And I kind of find that to be the case with a lot of my comedy and stuff I write, is that it takes a long time to incubate in my head my life experiences, and then they come out many years later, and once I've gotten distance, and I find I can find the funny in it.

But it I had been hosting this MTV show where I was like doing jokes about Justin Bieber and like really light fun stuff, and I wanted to show my sort of darker, deeper, more subtle side, and this web series, I just wanted to show the moments of what it's like to have a day job when you're aspiring to do something creative. And I think for a lot of comedians, their story is like, oh, I couldn't keep a job, you know, I was just such a misfit I had to do comedy. And that wasn't the case for me.

I was actually really good at my job, and I kept getting promotions and I was making good money and I had stability, and it was it was a constant battle every day to fight the urge to just settle into my cubicle. The job I had was not creative at all. It was numbers, it was law, legal stuff. Right. I love the idea that you like, couldn't help but

be good at this job. Well, I'm amazing well, and that you know, and that somehow kind of went against your identity as a comedian or you know, a creative person. I think you're right. People have take pride in their war stories when they're in a creative field about just slogging through a day job. And we've been talking about how people use This episode is specifically about jargon. We've been talking about how people use it as a way to be more included or feel more part of a group.

And you working in an office and kind of wrestling with what your identity was as a totally competent law firm professional versus a creative person, a comedian, someone who wants to express themselves in a totally different way. How did you find yourself dealing with those questions about belonging Did you want to belong to the office. Did you find yourself kind of slipping into the lingo or the kind of way use of the office, or did you

really resist it? The jargon there was it was very specific.

What we did was so niche. I think some of a lot of it was like email stuff, like the jargon and emails always like drove me crazy, Like when someone would send an email that was passive, aggressive of and mean scolding or something, and then sign it with like best best uneas against best the worst and you know, we need to drill down, like they were kind of like we need to drill down and then we need to have the blue sky view of this, you know, like all those terms that are just so I felt

it came from men, mostly, like I felt that interesting men would spout these things a lot because they would it would make them sound like they were really knowledgeable or you know, on top of whatever we were talking about. But um, it all just drove me crazy, you know, all of it. Is there any upside to jargon, like where there are there moments where you're ever thankful for having those words at your disposal? Or are they really

just extra words we don't need to be using. You know, My work now, especially is writing, and I've always been a writer, and I've always taken great care in wanting to say things a clear really, because that's you know, as a stand up comedian, you can say anything as long as you're clear. The point is to make people laugh,

and the point is to make people feel good. And there's a big debate in comedy right now about language and about what can we say and will the outrage machine come after you if you say the wrong thing that's offensive and PC culture and all this stuff. You know, you're trying to be clear and you're trying to get everybody to get on your boat, like whatever it is you're selling at work, like is it your status, is it your the project you're trying to get through, or

is it the tone the environment? Like all whatever it is you're trying to obtain in your work environment, you have to use your language to get people on board with you. I feel like the perfect jargon for that is, um,

what the road show? Go around the office and you or you know, there's other ways to use it, but the way I would always think of road show is like you go around the office and get everybody on board with your plan like whatever, Like here's how I think we should tackle the jing get his cape, you know, and then that's your road show. Um, and those jargon E things help get there faster because it's the language we all speak. And people don't like that in particular

because they can see through it. It seems so fake because it's a special art. If you know, you have to be very subtle about it, and a friend of mine who's a linguist, said that the reason people find jargons so grading is the same reason we find people who come back from abroad and say where it's like croissant grading it's croissant. Yeah, I know, Francisco pronounces it like that. Every every time you're kind of performing this this act and people think it's phony, Well, it's cliche,

it's unoriginal, And that's what I started to say. It was like, in my work, it's very important to me to say things in a way that is both clear and unique. You know, there's always a way I whenever I'm writing something, I mean like, there's a different way we can say this. This is hitting me as hackey or cliche. So for me, it's very important to be original. So I would get very annoyed with people who are just lazy. It felt like laziness, like I think, because

you're worrying better, you know, battle against cliches and journalism. Um, It's it's interesting because you're talking about how comedians talk to audiences and how you have to think about your word choice and make it as clear and original as possible. How do comedians talk to each other like, I'm sure it's so annoying. I get very annoyed by it. Can

you give us some example? Yeah, Especially it's especially annoying when you encounter I have a friend of mine who's started stand up recently, which comedians joke like, oh, there's nothing more annoying than a new comedian, Like when I've been doing it for like fourteen years now, and like there's an it's like you can't help it. It's because they start using the jargon and it's like you're not

And it's that going back to that inclusive thing. It's like you're not quite in with us yet because you've only been doing this for a hot second and now you're you know, going up, Going up is what you say when you you're going to go up on stage and perform, like going up tonight, I'm going up tonight. Like there's another phrase, and this is an inside joke

with comedians, which is who books that? Which is we joke that it's an annoying thing but everyone does it, which is you find out, Oh, I'm going up at the clubhouse tonight or whatever venue you might be doing. Oh it's a good show. Oh who books that? And it's the other comedian wanting to know who books it

so they can get on it too. And so now it's this joke where like comedians will just post a picture of like I recently posted a like seal beach in Lahalla, California, Like I posted a picture of these seals and all these people looking, and I just wrote who books that? Because it's like everyone's always asking who books that? How do I get ahead? How do I get on it? And that's so funny because I would have thought comedians just sit around, like cutting right through

the crap. Well, we use the jargon to cut through, like you know who books that? Is a joke making fun of comedians that do that, even though we all know we've done that and you have to do that otherwise you would not get ahead. You hear these words and they sound particularly annoying, like comedian jargon sounds particularly annoying coming from rookies, and it's that sort of phony sounding thing hard right exactly make it all look effortless.

But at the same you need to use those words, which is maybe a good time for me to say that sometimes I like using jargon. I will admit it. Yeah, Beck is a jargon fan. I'm not a fan, but I think it can be useful and easy and like, if you're in the club, you know what I'm saying. So maybe I'm being a bit of like a snob. Yeah, I mean I think we've talked about examples of totally useless jargon and maybe slightly more useful jargon. We did, actually we did a jargon quiz earlier that might be

fun to do with you. What do you think? So this is like, these are just words collected from people in various industries, resources in various industries that are English words that you would recognize, and I just want you to tell me what they mean. Okay, Okay, Revert I mean go back to the original version or go backwards various in sinct in finance, revert when used in the phrase revert to you, it just means get back to you. Yes,

that's terrible, isn't that? There's something so skincrawlling about it? Oh, I just I can picture the guy saying that, like him fun of me growing up. It's designed to like confuse you. Okay. Activation, Oh jeez, I'm already annoyed. Whatever this is for, I'm annoyed. Activation putting a plan into action. Um, some kind of making that sound like something that does sound like what it should be. It's actually a noun used in the world of museums and curator types that

means a semi educational event. Oh my god, that's bad. You would put on an activating our brains. No, you have to say, oh my god, did you see Lisa at the activation? What was she wearing? Lisa is really intent on being the organizer of this conestivation, but I just don't think that she I think she's kind of a bit okay, and this is the last one. Thank you for bearing with our quiz. Cast member. Oh man, that's somebody that works at Disney. Probably no, that is

actually what they called him. I think cast members. I feel like that's justifiable since you since you do have to do some acting singing a day. So when you clean up, when you clean up a piece of paper the moment it's dropped like you and you act like you enjoy it. Yeah, that's a performance. It's performative. It's also what sales people who work the floor at Sephora the cosmetics change are referred to. You know what I heard about made well, which I love love Made wells products.

Made well has a rule if you work their minimum five layers. I'm not kidding. I'm not joking, my friend. You got to work that out. It's got to be two or three to five layers. But yeah, So basically every single industry has its jargon. And I was thinking, like, my family has jargon. That's amazing. Yeah, I mean you have jargon. I think I think jargon is basically dorky people sling, and I think we should just we should

accept it. I can accept it. I think it's if you're using it, like you said, in a phony way, or if you're using it before your inside the group, it's do so at your own peril. I'm with you, Sarah. I think we should all endeavor to be more clear and more direct and more precise in everything that we say.

And really it's about cutting out the cliches. So if it sounds familiar and good to you, it might be just because you've heard it a million times before, and not because it's actually the best way to express what you're saying. Basically, just be cool, Just be cool, Just be you cool. Thank thank you so much. Yeah, make the jargon you want to see in the world. Great, all right, well, thank you so much for coming and talking to us about jargon. Okay, Becca, it's time for

some soul searching. Are you ready, I'm ready. Okay. So, this whole time we've been talking about jargon and why people may or may not like it, why people may or may not use it, but we haven't really looked inward and thought about how much we're part of the problem. Yeah. I think we like to think that we are the most direct, concise people in the workplace. Yeah, we're journalists. There's no way we'd use any excess words, right, and you know, we're not those other people who are being

phony in the workplace. Certainly we're not phones. So we put that to the test and gave each other a little assignment recalling the jargon audit. We sent each other the last dozen to fifteen emails that we had sent from our own emails, so emails that we originated, not a reply to somebody else. And I think the parameters that we set were you sent the email every basically every email you sent, dating back from an arbitrary time

point that wasn't too sensitive to disclose. Okay, Yeah, So we sent to each other our emails to see how much jargon we do or don't use. So should I start? Yeah, okay, I'm ready, great, bring it. I hope you are Rebecca who loves jargon. Love is such a strong word. The person who tolerates jargon is being tolerant so bad and sees its usefulness in the world. I counted in your fifteen or so emails about eight uses of jargon, and I stretched the definition of jargon enough to include I

would love to. But you do have one major repeated offense, and that is hop on, as in hop on the phone. You asked at least four sources or people you were emailing to hop on the phone with you, and I just don't know how much acrobatics are expecting from each these people. What is the nicest way to say, I would like to set up a phone call with you? Please? THEREK, you just did it. You use no jargon. Okay, I'm gonna try to be more, but you know what, hop on,

jump on, jump off, circle back? Why are we athletic? Really? Yeah, it's a really energetic world that we pretend to live in when we're sitting at our desks sending emails. How did I do on the jargon audit, so you had more jargon than I did. You had fourteen jargon offenses in that I included journalism jargon. In some emails, you use the term pubbing, which for non journalists is kind

of shorthand for publishing. So you would say something like where we'll be pubbing that in the morning, which is cooler jargon I think, and I think we think that goes inside the club than some of your other jargon. So in one of your first emails you used next steps, which is definitely jargon. E. I think you said ping me I did, yeah, which I think is a pretty big jargon offense, like can you ping me? That me? It's just like, what is it? Let's just get at me.

Just get at me, and I lighthearted kind of way. You don't have to, you know, it's not that serious. Just pick me. The thing that was interesting about your emails was that when they were emails to people within the building, I found that there was actually less jargon, or that's when the journalism jargon popped up. But when it was emails to people who you're less familiar with, the emails got more formal and then more jargon. Started creeping into it beca I feel like we've both learned

a lot about ourselves in the last few minutes. Yeah, I think you've learned to accept jargon. Apparently I embraced jargon without even knowing it. And I've learned that I don't use jargon even though I kind of like it. But things we learned. Thanks for listening to game plan. If you have key takeaways and would like to circle back paying us, I'm at RZ Greenfield and I'm at Francesco today. Our guest Sarah Schaeffer is at Sarah Schaefer one, and I will be sure to read you in on

any pertinent action items if you get in touch. See you next week. Guys, I feel like you're not even listening to us. They weren't even listening to us. M