Avoid legal, foreign, and technical jargon; and if you must use them explain them
What do we mean by jargon? Jargon is unnecessarily complicated and convoluted language used to impress, rather than to inform, your reader.
When we say not to use jargon, we’re not advocating leaving out necessary technical terms, but we are saying to make sure your other language is as clear as possible. For example, there may not be another correct way to refer to a brinulator valve control ring. But that doesn’t prevent you from saying “tighten the brinulator valve control ring securely” instead of “Apply sufficient torque to the brinulator valve control ring to ensure that the control ring assembly is securely attached to the terminal such that loosening cannot occur under normal conditions.” The first is a necessary use of a technical term. The second is jargon.
Special terms can be useful shorthand within a group and may be the clearest way to communicate inside the group. However, going beyond necessary technical terms to write in jargon can cause misunderstanding or alienation, even if your audience is made up entirely of specialists. Readers complain about jargon more than any other writing fault, because writers often fail to realize that terms they know well may be difficult or meaningless to their readers. Try to substitute everyday language for jargon as often as possible. Consider the following pairs. The plainer version conveys technical information just as accurately and more clearly than the jargon-laden version.
| Don’t say | Say |
|---|---|
| riverine avifauna | river birds |
| involuntarily undomiciled | homeless |
| The patient is being given positive-pressure ventilatory support. | The patient is on a respirator. |
| Most refractory coatings to date exhibit a lack of reliability when subject to the impingement of entrained particulate matter in the propellant stream under extended firing durations. | The exhaust gas eventually damages the coating of most existing ceramics. |
When you have no way to express except to use technical language, make sure you define your terms. However, it’s best to keep definitions to a minimum. Remember to write to communicate, not to impress. If you do that, you should naturally use less jargon.
Legal language
Legal language in regulations and other documents is a major source of annoying jargon. Readers can do without archaic jargon such as “hereafter,” “heretofore,” and “therewith.” Professor Joseph Kimble, a noted scholar on legal writing, warns that we should avoid those words and formalisms that give legal writing its musty smell. He includes in his list of examples the following words:
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(Kimble, 2006).
Another term that is losing its popularity in legal circles is “shall.” Obviously, it’s especially important in regulations to use words of authority clearly, and many top legal writing experts now recommend avoiding the archaic and ambiguous “shall” in favor of another word, depending on your meaning. Read more about “shall” in the discussion of using “must” to convey requirements.
See also the discussion about dealing with definitions.
Sources
- Garner, Bryan A., Garner’s Modern American Usage, 2003, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, pp. 472-3.
- Kimble, Joseph, Lifting the Fog of Legalese, 2006, Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC, pp.173-4.