By Maggie David Holley
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Last week, a reader chided me for using the word, “lede” in an article on how to spot an awful press release. She thought it was either a misspelled version of “lead” or a term peculiar to the public relations industry. Either way, it was bad. Here I was telling people to double check for errors and jargon before submitting a press release, and I hadn’t followed my advice.
Another reader, however, mocked the first. She replied, “If you think that ‘lede’ is either spelled wrong or too-technical jargon (in an article on writing for writers), you have no business being in any writing profession.” Someone else told me I had “no need to apologize…[because I was] talking to people in [my] own industry who should know the term.”
Even though it hurts to be criticized, I agree with the reader who called me out. Journalists coined the term “lede” to refer to the first paragraph of an article or story, but all kinds of writers check out Ragan’s PR Daily, where the article appeared. I actually got an email from a communications manager that same day who thought “lede” was a typo, too. When I defined it for her, she replied, “I’m a communications professional who was not trained as a journalist, so it was lost on me! My apologies.”
Every industry has its own set of special words and phrases. As a marketing writer who specializes in health care, most of the materials I work with are full of incomprehensible terms. Sometimes I use them, sometimes I don’t. How do I decide? Here are five questions I ask whenever I come across a word or phrase I suspect is gobbledygook:
- Who’s my lowest common denominator? Jargon exists because it speeds up communication among people who “get” it. It’s also more precise. “Eutrophication” is a big word, yet it’s perfectly appropriate when writing for ecologists. But if you’re writing for ecologists and the general public, direct your words to the general public.
- Is it an abstract term? Innovative. Robust. Cutting-edge. Not only are these words overused, they also don’t say anything. Marketers use abstract terms when they don’t fully understand their product, or when they’re too lazy to find out what it is that makes it stand out. Don’t say you’re innovative. Give an example of what you’ve done that demonstrates that quality instead.
- Is it a technical term? “Atrial fibrillation” is jargon. So is “enzyme.” But both refer to something specific. The first to a medical condition, the second to a protein that catalyzes chemical reactions in the body. Sometimes you have no choice but to use a technical term. But define it in plain English (e.g. atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat…”), and use examples to illustrate it.
- Can I use a simpler term without changing the meaning? I prefer “open-heart surgery” to “coronary artery bypass graft surgery.” I almost always write “heart attack” instead of “myocardial infarction.” But what if it’s an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction? There’s more than one type of heart attack, and if you’re referring to this type, using the general term could mislead your reader. So it’s okay to use the technical term, but again, define and illustrate it for a non-specialized audience.
- What’s my objective for using this term? Sometimes it’s okay to complicate things. Some companies purposely use or even make up jargon to differentiate a commodity product. According to direct response copywriter Bob Bly, Montblanc decided to market its pens as “writing instruments” because while you can buy pens for a dollar at the corner store, writing instruments can fetch upwards of a hundred bucks.
Expect a perfectly incomprehensible word or phrase to slip through these questions occasionally, especially if you use it all the time. I’ve translated many that scientists have insisted a person with a high school education should understand. But when it comes to a term peculiar to journalists, I fell into the same trap. Well, guess what—I have a journalism background. Still, it’s a good guide. It kept me from using the phrase, “above the fold,” for instance!
The post When Is It Okay to Use Jargon? appeared first on Maggie Holley │ Healthcare Marketing Writer.
