Jargon can be fun for everyone!
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Management gurus love to talk about collaboration, but a study has suggested that people working together in groups came up with fewer ideas than did the same individuals working alone.
If you’re really looking for new ideas, why not ask meeting participants to bring theirs on a single double-spaced page, to be placed on the table before the discussion starts? Those interested in groupthink can find a relatively thorough discussion at answers.com.
Many of us are guilty of using a word we might not be able to define, but conference-room usage has a tendency to leak into printed or digital communications, where it can make a writer and his or her firm look careless, at the least. Fortunately there’s an easy remedy; look it up! Keep a dictionary widget on your dashboard, where a single click can help you avoid making mistakes with frequently misused words like those below. There are also many websites, such as bartleby.com, that provide links to definition on demand.
Check out a few examples of commonly misused words below and remember to take our monthly poll.
Enormity does not mean something enormous, but refers to the quality of passing all moral bounds; excessive wickedness or outrageousness. 2. A monstrous offense or evil; an outrage. [Definitions from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000)]
Frequently thought synonymous with “skim,” peruse actually means to read or examine, typically with great care.
Another word that is frequently thought to mean its opposite. To nonplus means to put at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to bewilder.
It may be an amusing coincidence but it’s not ironic. An ironic statement is one that is poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended, thus an ironic address for the astronaut might have been Grounded Avenue.
Can you remember when going forward replaced in the future or the even simpler from now on? And when did things that once got lost begin to go missing? The latter phrase has been traced to the popularity of BBC police dramas like Prime Suspect. After being picked up by the television news media during the Chandra Levy investigation, its usage soared. While its 2004 data is now slightly out of date, the essay at this URL amusingly documents just when and how everything suddenly went missing, and other British phrases began to rear their ugly heads. A question left unanswered, though, is why American journalists and broadcasters are always jumping someone else’s train.
The Chronicle of Higher Education: American idioms have gone missing
The occasional clever phrase notwithstanding, some feel that a function of jargon is to obscure meaning entirely. For that reason, Britain’s Local Government Association recently published a list of 200 words and expressions it says should be banned from local council communications, including gems like “predictors of beaconicity” and “flexibilities and freedoms.” See the full list.
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