Say NO to business jargon

Read the research

Anything that facilitates concise, clear and easy to understand communication has got to be a good thing. But what about jargon? Does it help or does it just get in the way? Our research is fairly conclusive.

• 74.6% of people believe that jargon hampers clear communication.
• 42.5% of people think it's irritating
• 41% thinks it's pointless and meaningless. Hardly a ringing endorsement for its continued usage.

• 58% of us admit to using business jargon.
• 24.2% use it and, occasionally, do so without knowing what it means.
• 4.1% use it and never understand it.

• 64.7% say that their boss uses incomprehensible jargon
• 41.2% suspect their boss doesn't understand it either. Now, that's not really setting an example, is it?

• 51% of people say they've misunderstood a piece of jargon. It's probably far higher, but who wants to admit something like that?

Most offensive examples of jargon:

1. "Let's blue sky that"
2. "Out of the box"
3. "Ring-fence that idea"

Which all leaves us with a conundrum. 58% of us admit to using business jargon and yet 60% want it banned from the office. It's clearly a guilty pleasure we believe we'd be better off without. So let's get rid of it!

Download the full research document

The Jargon Junkie

His conversation is littered with jargon and buzzwords, all delivered with supreme confidence. If everyone knew what he was talking about, he'd be a great communicator. But they don't, so he just leaves everyone totally bamboozled. Fortunately, everyone's too busy scratching their heads to realise he's spouting meaningless twaddle.