Hi folks!


I’ve been working out my ideas for what I want to discuss about jargon for a few days now. I figured to do it justice, I’m breaking it into two parts:


Today: specific jargon to different fields, real and imaginary (the real comes from my lovely acquaintances who helped me out, or my own humbling job experiences, the imaginary is for fields I am more unfamiliar with, in which case I will rely on the authenticity of such gems as “law and order, SVU” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”)


Tomorrow: what I think about jargon, why I cynically believe it is used, and more about the evolution and use of jargon in the world, and what it means to us and our identity.


Ready to play? Wait, first, I have to show you what I saw out on a Saturday Drive today:

take one…

take two…

take three… i give up…

What on earth is going on? In case you haven’t yet discovered that clicking a photo enlarges them, go ahead and do so. Yes, those are shoes. Those are all shoes. Why in helter skelter is that tree full of shoes? It’s a shoe tree! I’m sure I’m missing something important here, but to be honest I’m not even sure I care… that’s incredible.


Anyway, again, ready to play JARGON? Step right up folks!


Let’s start with my own field, working with kids/families with Autism and other mental health diagnoses in a one-on-one therapy type setting. 
       -When writing my session notes, I might refer to “modeling,” “behavior modification,” “redirection,” or “shared control,” to basically say that I act out appropriate behavior, play with kids, and point them in a generally more appropriate way to behave. 
       -Interesting jargon thrown around by mental health practitioners and speech/occupational therapists include, and are not limited to: “edging” or “stimming” (seeking sensory input), “echolalia” (repeating after adults or movies rather than spontaneous speech), “chewies” and “brushing” for sensory needs. When I meet with families for Visual Consults we discuss “social stories,” “visual supports,” “task organizers,” and “PECS” which is fancy schmancy-ese for “information laid out visually for your visual processing child/ daily routine list.”


Before I held the lofty position I currently hold, I moonlit as a “runner” at a lovely pizzeria where I did not in fact “run,” but brought food out to tables when waitrons were otherwise engaged. When an order was “on the fly” it did not mean that food was sailing through the air, but that it was to go through to the chefs or patrons right away. I needn’t have worried when I was told I was “cut,” because this doesn’t hurt- it just means I get to GO HOME after ONE HOUR of working in the middle of the day! Yea! Rent is due and I had a one hour shift!


Even earlier than this, I worked in retail purgatory at more now bankrupt franchises than is even believable. From about 15 years old until I declared myself finished with retail “for good” at the age of approximately 22, I was faced with “moving merch,” “running shopbacks,” and “upsaling” with garbage like batteries and CD Towers. I can’t for the life of me remember (blocked it out?) the name these impulse and high profit margin items were called. I might have to call in some former co-workers as reinforcements here? I was confused for about 3 months by what “hardlines” were, and could have cared less about where the “POS” was. Kiosk, till, reg(ister), ringing, ugh ugh ugh. If I never have to learn this language again I will be pleased.


Some of my lovely acquaintances have enlightened me to the wonderful world of office jargon, which I have actually never experienced firsthand. My own knowledge was approximately Office Space, which after reading some of my friends’ replies, sounds fairly accurate.
     -there are “call blitzes” and “stat sessions”that workers are responsible for. You might be asked to “bottom line it” or attend a “town hall meeting.” All concerning and mind numbing “buzz talk” is thrown around, and if you “cyberslack” too often you might be “demoted.” You are “please advised” to find a “seat warmer” by the “EOD” (end of day) or “EOM” (month) and be sure to “knock it out of the park.” And for crying out loud, if you don’t have the “capes” to “make it all hang together,” and “make it sizzle” with your “pitch,” you surely won’t get called a “rockstar” 
      -Besides the EOD/EOM, officees better be aware of CTA, RFP, SEM, SEO, CRM, CRS… I could relay to you what these acronyms stand for, but would that make it mean anything? Didn’t think so.


Other professions are peppered with the lovely lovely Latin that is oh so blessedly easy to use as a tool to  “figure out” your way through human bio and science exams for us word nerds in university. How great it was when I could memorize a few prefixes such as “cyto,” and “ecto” and never have to memorize another thing? 


However, Latin is a huge element of legal jargon. I will report back a few gems from a local barrister/ legal eagle who was so kind to enlighten me to a few I didn’t know the translations of. These are fun!
-if you are “in camera,” it doesn’t mean you are in the shot of the court reporter. It just means you are in the judges chamber!
-a “non-sequitor” is not to be confused with the political cartoon I never understood when I was younger in the comics- but had I translated it I would have known that in fact, it “doesn’t make sense!” Well, I could have told them that!
-if you are “in absentia” during one of your law classes, you might start taking off your clothes when “habeas corpus” is brought to the table (meaning is similar to “show the body”) when really, you are just being saved from being unfairly sent to prison. whew! 


Now on to some more imaginary jargon that could or could not have any real usage in the “real world.”


-do cops really refer to “perps” and mention “rap sheets” and “priors?” Do they really say, “book em” and “187” or refer to a “sting” or a “dirty cop?” Who knows, but it sure does throw some lovely local color in the script of some really bad tv shows! In fact, I get so uncomfortable with all of the one-liners used on these bad shows that I can’t even bring myself to watch one more episode to get some research done for this post. 


-medicine/hospitals is another world where my knowledge is some hybrid of the dramatic spewage they say on TV and the senseless information I hear at the doctor’s office, wondering what it could possibly mean. 
        -We all know “stat,” “triage” and “scrub in” as well as where the “ER,” “OR” and “ICU” are. But what on earth is in that “GI cocktail” that we are given to shut us up? Can we understand a word of those abbreviated drug types? (Do we even care at that point?) 
        -If you hear that you have some sort of “itis,” fear not- it just means something is swollen. If you hear about a “drip” don’t be insulted, it just means you’re getting some drugs! Now be quiet!
        -Finally, one I heard on grey’s anatomy some time in college, where they referred to a “whipple” which I have no clue what it means, but I thought it was a cool name. Probably for a not-so-cool experience for the operatee though…


What jargon do you use in your field? What did I miss?


Tune in tomorrow for my cynical thoughts on jargon, and if we are better off with it or without it.