New year, new language

EVERY NEWYEAR, offices promise transformation. Strategy decks are refreshed, calendars are cleared, and optimism is cautiously rebooted. This year, however, there is a far simpler resolution the workplace desperately needs-lesser office jargon.

- SHYAMAL MAJUMDAR

Jargon has become the corporate equivalent of background noise. Everyone hears it, no one really listens to it, and yet it refuses to go away. It has grown unchecked, like an invasive species.

As a result, meetings no longer begin, they "kick off". Tasks are not finished, they are "closed out". Problems are not solved, they are "taken offline", which is where most issues go to live out the rest of their natural lives. People don't work, they "deep-dive","circle back" and "leverage synergies" until everyone forgets what the original question was.

Consider the humble sentence. Once upon a time, someone could say, "This will take two days." Today, it has evolved into "Let's align on timelines and revert with a revised roadmap." The information content is identical. The confusion is far greater.

Jargon thrives because it sounds busy. Saying "I don't know" feels risky; saying "We're still ideating on that" feels strategic. A delay is no longer a delay-it is a "phased recalibration". A mistake is not a mistake, it is a "learning opportunity", preferably captured in a post-mortem with no actual cause of death.