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Suppose I got into doing those things, yet I am aware of the "startup" terms for them. Should I consciously avoid using the jargon (which is really a shortcut

Suppose I got into doing those things, yet I am aware of the "startup" terms for them. Should I consciously avoid using the jargon (which is really a shortcut way of expressing a longer idea to a familiar audience)? No, rather than giving you a long winded discussion of the steps to getting dressed (or whatever the jargon may be), I'll just say, "I got dressed". It conveys more information in a shorter frame. Why would someone avoid being compact and expressive to a niche audience?

amscanne 12y ago
I don't understand your getting dressed example. That seems to be cutting to the heart of what actually was done. That's the opposite of jargon. The problem with jargon is that while it can express abstract purpose or intent (that can otherwise difficult to describe), it's basically meaningless in describing actual actions. For example, you could say "I was doing market research today." But wtf does that really mean? It sounds smart and like you know what you're doing, but ultimately it's more meaningful to say "I was reading our competitor's website" or "I was asking people on the street if they would buy our product." Jargon has it's place, but just because you call talking to your friends about your idea "market research" doesn't make it any more useful. I think it's easy to fall into that trap.
- theworst 12y ago
  Clothing was def a bad analogy, given my fashion sense (or at least that's what my ex-partner says!) My point was that jargon has it's place as a shortcut to language. Sure, people use it to sound smart. But it's also a short cut. Back to the original point, doing "market research" could be very meaningful to people I report to in the context of my job. They don't care what the steps were, exactly, just that I was doing my duty diligence and figuring out what the hell we should sell to whom. Based on your last graph, I think I agree more than disagree. But I've had very dense, yet brief, conversations with other technical people that could only be brief due to jargon. And non-technical people thought we were b.s.ing each other because they didn't understand the terminology. But you are definitely correct -- if you want the greatest reward-to-time ratio when learning a field, just learn the jargon first. In fact, even if you want depth of understanding, learn the jargon first. 1) you'll then know what other people are talking about, and 2) you'll be "part of the tribe", and more trusted. YMMV. For me, learning the language of a culture is just step 1 to communicating with them.

amscanne 12y ago

I don't understand your getting dressed example. That seems to be cutting to the heart of what actually was done. That's the opposite of jargon. The problem with jargon is that while it can express abstract purpose or intent (that can otherwise difficult to describe), it's basically meaningless in describing actual actions. For example, you could say "I was doing market research today." But wtf does that really mean? It sounds smart and like you know what you're doing, but ultimately it's more meaningful to say "I was reading our competitor's website" or "I was asking people on the street if they would buy our product." Jargon has it's place, but just because you call talking to your friends about your idea "market research" doesn't make it any more useful. I think it's easy to fall into that trap.

theworst 12y ago
Clothing was def a bad analogy, given my fashion sense (or at least that's what my ex-partner says!) My point was that jargon has it's place as a shortcut to language. Sure, people use it to sound smart. But it's also a short cut. Back to the original point, doing "market research" could be very meaningful to people I report to in the context of my job. They don't care what the steps were, exactly, just that I was doing my duty diligence and figuring out what the hell we should sell to whom. Based on your last graph, I think I agree more than disagree. But I've had very dense, yet brief, conversations with other technical people that could only be brief due to jargon. And non-technical people thought we were b.s.ing each other because they didn't understand the terminology. But you are definitely correct -- if you want the greatest reward-to-time ratio when learning a field, just learn the jargon first. In fact, even if you want depth of understanding, learn the jargon first. 1) you'll then know what other people are talking about, and 2) you'll be "part of the tribe", and more trusted. YMMV. For me, learning the language of a culture is just step 1 to communicating with them.