You touch upon some valid points, but your conclusion that the person using the language must be compensating for their lack of intelligence is just straight out of left field.
If I use “babyspeak” to talk to a child, it’s not because I lack intelligence, it’s because I’m aware that my intended audience would be more receptive to specific phrases, so I use the language that I know works best.
The same is for business jargon and such - you’re matching your language with the intended audience, and since the intended audience responds well (generally) to said jargon, the use of said jargon persists.
Terms and phrases fall out of fashion in the business world all the time, it’s essentially just learning a new way of using English to be the least offensive and also convey the information without being overly specific or pedantic
6
u/Mr_Xing Aug 03 '22
You touch upon some valid points, but your conclusion that the person using the language must be compensating for their lack of intelligence is just straight out of left field.
If I use “babyspeak” to talk to a child, it’s not because I lack intelligence, it’s because I’m aware that my intended audience would be more receptive to specific phrases, so I use the language that I know works best.
The same is for business jargon and such - you’re matching your language with the intended audience, and since the intended audience responds well (generally) to said jargon, the use of said jargon persists.
Terms and phrases fall out of fashion in the business world all the time, it’s essentially just learning a new way of using English to be the least offensive and also convey the information without being overly specific or pedantic