In the corporate world, it is imperative to leverage bandwidth so as to capitalize on all the low-hanging fruit, while maximizing best practices and core competencies, simultaneously enhancing our value proposition.
Ugh. I feel dirty. Hang on a minute while I disinfect my keyboard…/squirt /squirt…There. That’s better.
As a refugee from the corporate world, I have had to learn to speak and write English all over again. I have the double handicap of having spent over a decade working in information technology. IT greatly accelerates the decline of literacy because of the field’s over-reliance on acronyms to describe just about everything. Technology isn’t real until there’s an acronym for it. Even jokes are spoken in acronym. PFM and RTFM are two old chestnuts I have uttered more times than I care to remember.
Purging all those acronyms, jargon, ridiculous misuse of words, and hackneyed phrases, so de rigueur in the office environment but deadly in writing, has been an ongoing effort. I still cringe whenever I hear some of the more egregious examples such as “learnings” and “at the end of the day.” <shudder>
English is a tremendously elastic language, adept at appropriating words from other languages or adapting to social trends. Much like the good ol’ U.S of A. herself, American English is quick to throw open its doors to anyone and anything in order to better express the inexpressible.
Still, I would like to know when—and why—we stopped caring about proper, grammatical English? My theory is that, for one thing, basic English is not taught in grade school any more. What happened to drilling on the parts of a sentence, vocabulary, and spelling? I also blame the advent of the PC and portable entertainment technology for a concurrent decline in reading, both in education and as a pastime. Don’t even get me started on texting.
Without proper education in the rudiments of language or exposure to well-written prose like the great ideas expressed in the classics of world literature, our society has grown to view American Idol and Jersey Shore as the high point of culture. With such a low bar, mangling the language, or using it in a lazy way to suit the situation at hand is no big deal.
So do yourself, and our culture, a favor: Just for one day, try purging your speech and writing of jargon. Try to use proper grammar and spelling. Say and write what you mean, clearly and distinctly. It’s not as hard as you think.
Efforting this point of pain will future-proof the workstream resulting in a win-win for all!
Tru Dat!
I like what ya did there.