Yesterday I had to ask the husband numerous times what word I was thinking of when I was thinking of the term – jargon! I think we can easily call that a matter of irony!

At the weekend I was at a PCC away day and one thing we felt was important was to explain things about the Church of England without using Church of England Jargon – although I already have by using PCC (Parochial Church council). Then on Monday we watched a programme called “the trick” where a professor needed to explain his work and, again, he was encouraged to explain without using jargon.

Why is the lack of jargon so important?

Jargon is a set of words, or even a language, used by a group or organisation of people. It helps people communicate easily with each other; however it makes it difficult for other people to understand and to be able to follow what is being said.if we want to share our interests with other people then we need to share using language that is accessible to other people.

As a teacher this is a skill I had to develop over a period of time, it’s also something I had to develop as a Brummy moving to the South and marrying into a Kentish family! We will all have jargon that we use in different situations; but we will also have been confused by jargon that has been used by other people.

It’s important that we remember how it feels when we don’t understand and that we try to limit the amount of jargon we use when we’re talking with friends, family and colleagues.