A Majority of Workers Despise Annoying Corporate Buzzwords. So Why Do We Keep Using Them? A new poll by Duolingo and LinkedIn tries to 'drill down' on workplace jargon.
Does business-speak make you want to tear your hair out?
Well, let's take that concern offline, noodle on it, and run it up the flagpole for review.
LinkedIn and Duolingo, a language learning app, recently surveyed 8,000 professionals across eight countries to find out if jargon boosts — or befuddled — communication between co-workers.
The results — surprising probably to no one — were that most of those surveyed wished that trendy workplace jargon would iterate and optimize itself into oblivion.
According to the survey, 58% of people feel their coworkers overuse jargon. And nearly half of the people polled would eliminate jargon altogether.
Why the negative reaction? For starters, 60% of those surveyed said they had to do their own research on some of the catchy phrases thrown around in meetings to figure out what people were talking about. They complained that these buzzwords caused stress and slowed down productivity — or, as a startup CEO might put it: Jargon does not "move the needle."
Related: Don't Say It: These Are the Most Annoying Corporate Buzzwords, According to a New Survey
The most confusing jargon
According to the survey, different countries had different jargon pain points. These are the top 5 most confusing words in the US, UK, and Australia.
The US:
1. Boiling the ocean
2. Herding cats
3. Ducks in a row
4. Move the needle
5. Run it up the flagpole
The UK:
1. Blue sky thinking
2. COP/EOP/EOD
3. Low-hanging fruit
4. Move the needle
5. Ducks in a row
Australia:
1. Boiling the ocean
2. Noodling
3. Low-hanging fruit
4. Juice worth the squeeze
5. Wheelhouse
Even in countries where English isn't the official language, certain English jargon has crept into the corporate lexicon, further confusing employees.
In Brazil:
1. Feedback
2. Networking
3. ASAP
4. Briefing
5. Brainstorm
In Vietnam:
1. FYI
2. KPI
3. Low-hanging fruit
4. SOW
5. By EOD
In India:
1. Keep me in the loop
2. Take offline
3. Win-win situation
4. Core competency
5. Value-add
Why do we talk funny?
You would think that corporate cultures so focused on 'optimizing productivity' might 'put a pin on' all this confusing language, but that's not how human nature works.
"People typically use jargon in the workplace to project an identity of business-related authority," explains Hope Wilson, Ph.D., a Senior Learning and Curriculum Manager at Duolingo and an expert on linguistics and intercultural communication. "By knowing and using specialized lingo, you show the people around you that you're sophisticated and in touch with the latest business trends."
In other words, as long as we use language to impress our peers, there will be corporate jargon. Making it stop would be like boiling the ocean (look it up).
