Kick Jargon to the Curb

~ Kelly Wolf

Let’s save the world and never say these things again:

  1. Pivot
  2. Warm hand off
  3. Lift up
  4. Deep dive
  5. Reach out
  6. Transparency
  7. Crosswalk
  8. Level set
  9. Resonate
  10. Heavy lift
  11. Course correct

(There are loads more, but I have to stop. I’m about to barf.)

Instead, let’s just say what we mean:

  • Pivot: Let’s try something else.
  • Warm hand off: I’ll introduce you.
  • Lift up: This is important.
  • Deep dive: There’s lots to talk about.
  • Reach out: Feel free to contact me.
  • Transparency: Choose honesty over shadiness.
  • Crosswalk: Let’s merge two things.
  • Level set: Here’s why we’re meeting.
  • Resonate: I feel that, yo.
  • Heavy lift: This is gonna be a ton of work.
  • Course correct: Someone effed up. We’ll fix it.

See? Not so hard. Sure, we need to use a few more words, but it’s totally worth it.

We can do this, folks. I feel it in my heart. If we all work together, we can give jargon a warm hand off straight to hell.

6 thoughts on “Kick Jargon to the Curb”

  1. Love this! The “what we mean” version not only sounds better, most of them actually make the next thing to do clear, like “I’ll introduce you.” This list should be a zoom background!

    I one that drive me nuts is engagement… Someone I worked with actually said “we are going to engage in the process of engagement.”
    I think she meant we are soon going to try and talk with and pretend to listen to staff.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Mija, I’ll admit reaching out has a time and place, like if someone contacts you offering genuine support (“Hey, I heard your house fell into the ocean! I’m so sorry! Please let me know what I can do. I have a spare bedroom if you need it”) it’s totally appropriate to respond with, “Thank you for reaching out.” But if someone just says something like: “Hey, do you have the Zoom link for this morning’s meeting?” and you respond with, “Thank you for reaching out,” that’s just weird! And kinda creepy. 😝

      Like

      Reply

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