{"id":612,"date":"2013-04-26T13:37:55","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T13:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/?p=612"},"modified":"2013-10-02T23:47:46","modified_gmt":"2013-10-02T23:47:46","slug":"is-silicon-valley-speak-annihilating-everyday-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/is-silicon-valley-speak-annihilating-everyday-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Is \u2018Silicon Valley Speak\u2019 annihilating everyday language?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<table width=\"8\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/is-silicon-valley-speak-annihilating-everyday-language\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-614\" alt=\"No-Jargon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/No-Jargon.png\" width=\"250\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/No-Jargon.png 250w, https:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/No-Jargon-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/No-Jargon-110x110.png 110w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/write-angle.com\"><strong>Now in our third decade<\/strong><\/a> of technology marketing in<strong> Silicon Valley<\/strong>, we\u2019ve been exposed to our unfair share of linguistically challenging content and mind-numbing jargon.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d think we would have been de-sensitized at this point.\u00a0 But a recent email containing a slew of cringe-worthy zingers inspired this blog posting.\u00a0 It was as if we were previewing a script for a sitcom on \u201cValley Technobabble\u201d.\u00a0 Like us, even the laugh track was groaning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>No matter how many times we call it out<\/strong>, tortured business language continues to pollute even the simplest communications.\u00a0 Like cockroaches, taxes and acronyms, it just won\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n<p>The peculiar dialect now permeating every avenue of communications is something that might be best described as \u201cSilicon Valley Speak\u201d, a bewildering vocabulary that redefines (or it is \u201cdefies\u201d) grammar, tramples well-established definitions and creates an entirely new glossary of befuddling terminology that would leave even Anthony Burgess, author of <i>A Clockwork Orange<\/i>, slack-jawed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What punched our buttons<\/strong> in the aforementioned email was the word \u201conboarding\u201d.\u00a0 No, this is not a variation on the CIA\u2019s torture tactics, but it might as well be linguistically.\u00a0 The term may not exactly be new, but with all due respect to HR folks, do we really need yet another ham-handed concept to convey \u201ca systematic and comprehensive approach to orienting a new employee to help them \u2018get on board\u2019\u201d?\u00a0 What happened to \u201chiring\u201d or \u201corientation\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Alas, we\u2019re not alone in our incredulity at the insidious invasion of the \u201cjargon-slingers\u201d.\u00a0 Credit goes to Christopher Steiner for creating that gem.\u00a0 He penned one of the funniest and most astute articles titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/2011\/01\/06\/annoying-business-jargon-entrepreneurs-business.html\"><i>The Most Annoying Business Jargon<\/i><\/a><i> <\/i>that takes the business world to task for \u201ccutting its anchors to the English language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0<\/strong> We\u2019ve all heard the usual suspect lingo clanging around web sites, press releases, conference presentations and the like.\u00a0 But do we have to stand for it?\u00a0 At Write Angle, we certainly hope not.<\/p>\n<p>To quote Mr. Steiner, \u201cLet the jargon slinger know that you know who they are:\u00a0 a vapid, message-clouding, English-avoiding, communications nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amen to that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What SV-speak do you hear<\/strong> around the cubes or watering holes these days that cause you to cringe? What do you do to stamp it out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Now in our third decade of technology marketing in Silicon Valley, we\u2019ve been exposed to our unfair share of linguistically challenging content and mind-numbing jargon. You\u2019d think we would have been de-sensitized at this point.\u00a0 But a recent email containing a slew of cringe-worthy zingers inspired this blog posting.\u00a0 It was as if we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,36,37,163,10,44],"tags":[164,26,38,79,32,165,128],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-marketing","category-content-strategy","category-marketing","category-silicon-valley","category-website-content","category-writing-services","tag-christopher-steiner","tag-content-creation","tag-content-strategy-2","tag-peter-dave","tag-stan-devaughn","tag-the-most-annoying-business-jargon","tag-write-angle-technology-writing-services"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is \u2018Silicon Valley Speak\u2019 annihilating everyday language? - The Write Stuff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.write-angle.com\/thewritestuff\/is-silicon-valley-speak-annihilating-everyday-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is \u2018Silicon Valley Speak\u2019 annihilating everyday language? - The Write Stuff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Now in our third decade of technology marketing in Silicon Valley, we\u2019ve been exposed to our unfair share of linguistically challenging content and mind-numbing jargon. 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