The Meaning of Jargon in English - Essay Example

Bad Language A personal peeve is the way people constantly use percentage points to emphasize their readiness and dedication towards a particular job or area of their lives. We regularly hear people exclaiming that they were more than ready to give a 100pc to something. Now this would not be so bad if they had stopped there. But now we suddenly find that giving a 100pc is simply not enough. The stakes have risen to 200pc, 1000pc etc. This is an example of how tired the English language has become.

How do you measure someone's dedication and commitment to hard work Is a person who states that he or she is a thousand times or a 1000pc ready to commit themselves better than someone who simply states that they would try their best Another peeve is the abundance of "like" in the conversation of a teenager. The word "like" appears not simply as a conjunction in the middle of a sentence but often has the honor of starting the sentence. So we routinely hear sentences like "Like it was hot so I went to the pool.

" The above examples point to a lazy and slovenly mind, one that sacrifices clarity for convenience. George Orwell in his essay "Politics and the English Language" does not consider slang as particularly offensive. He makes this clear when he states that good writing has nothing to do with "Americanisms" or with proper use of grammar and syntax. One pivotal point in his essay is that the meaning must decide the words and not the other way around. Language must be used for the sake of clarity of expression and not to evade giving a true picture of things.

A new pressure in our times is the need to be politically correct. This pressure is faced by our politicians, companies and even the average person. No one wants to be perceived as rude, insensitive or offensive or more importantly face litigation for being politically incorrect. This need to be politically correct can go to extremes. While the move from "chairman" to "chairperson" and from "handicapped" to "differently abled" can be lauded, other terms are a mass of hilarious confusion.

Apparently the dead can now be called the "living impaired" while to undergo an abortion is to have "a near life experience". Jargon and confusion persists in the world. John Leo mentions in his blog "On Good Writing" the resistance of the New York Times to state that a famous writer had committed plagiarism. This is paralleled by the reluctance of the BBC to use words like "recession" and "crisis" to refer to the financial meltdown of today. Apparently in deference to the British government the BBC continues to use the word "downturn" to refer to the current fiscal turmoil.

Now because of the financial crisis we also have a range of financial jargon to confuse us. The reckless and unchecked means and methods, by which speculators and investment banks caused the collapse of the US economy, are being graced with the term "products of financial innovation". Political heads and the military have their own brand of jargon that is incomprehensible to anyone outside their clique. Terms like "secular progressive" or "apparachik" or "nanosocialism" fly about in political circles.

The military uses the phrase "to close with the enemy" that actually means to fight and kill the enemy. Another obscure term is "self propelled brain" which may appear like robotics to us but actually means to spend a lot of time in gathering intelligence on foes. Jargon is used by the government, the military and big corporations to evade giving people a true picture of what they are actually involved in. Works Cited Leo, John.

"On Good Writing". 21 May 2007. 21 October 2008. . Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language".1946. 21 October 2008. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.html>.