5 Minute Reflection #14.10: Jargon, Brand Names And The Obfuscation of The Important

The letters and words of our language can be arranged in countless combinations. In spite of that theoretical possibility, sometimes words are re-used in surprising ways and abbreviations and acronyms mean different things in different contexts. Sometimes, in our Orwellian technologically immersive culture, we approach the limits of language to say what we mean without extra effort to establish context, especially where technical jargon, brand names and other usage patterns reinvent words and reshape their meanings.

Case in point: Microsoft Office - Project. While having lunch, I noticed something about MS-Project on the TV in the restaurant. Really? Microsoft is running a commercial for their project management software? That seems awfully expensive for a niche title. They rarely run commercials for the common MS-Office titles like MS-Word or MS-Excel. 

I looked more closely. The graphic on the TV referred to The MS Project, not MS-Project. The MS Project is a collection of things created to raise awareness about something really important - Multiple Sclerosis. Consisting of a book, a website, apparel, and an iPhone app these elements are bringing renewed attention to this serious disease, educating people, and creating community among its sufferers, their families and others. 

How inconsequential does MS-Project seem by comparison to The MS-Project? For more information visit, The MS Project on the web. (http://themsproject.com) In the meantime, I'll try to be more careful and not let important things elude my attention just because they sound like something else.

Insider Speaking, the WSJ Speech Code

Neighborhoods, companies, organizations, and families often have unique ways of communicating that can be difficult for outsiders to decipher. Sometimes called "speech codes" these patterns contain unique idioms, vocabulary, usage, and even grammar. Acronyms, abbreviations, and jargon form elements of a speech code known to the readers of the Wall Street Journal.

Listed below are examples all appearing on the front page of today's WSJ, in order of appearance. Some are unique to business and finance. Some are common idioms, but codes nonetheless. I've also included a few unusual phrases.

Do you speak the code?

VOL., NO., WSJ, DJIA, NASDAQ, NIKKEI, STOXX 600, 10-YR. TREAS., B of A, MBIA, "soured securities', SEC, Pa., CEO, S&P 500, "the bill faces hurdles", "a string of rulings", EU, "private-equity firms", PG&E, KPMG, NATO, "storefront pot shops", "stop and frisk", "Researchers made bits of human bone", FDA, greenback, ICAP, CFO, "Obama is held back by risks on Syria", "Turkey's economy is getting hairier", "Turkey's emergence as a place for facial hair transplants", "be-whiskered boom", "troubled incinerator project".

Finally, this isn't coded or unusual language, just something worth repeating, "The SEC also took issue with Harrisburg officials for doing what many public officials often do: Putting a good face on a difficult situation."