jargon

(jär'gən)
n.

1. Nonsensical, incoherent, or meaningless talk.
2. A hybrid language or dialect; a pidgin.
3. The specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. See synonyms at dialect.
4. Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning.

intr.v., -goned, -gon·ing, -gons.
To speak in or use jargon.

[Middle English jargoun, from Old French jargon, probably of imitative origin.]

jargonist jar'gon·ist or jar'gon·eer' n.
jargonistic jar'gon·is'tic adj.

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1.
history of the term.
The Old English (up to 1150)D gives several meanings for jargon, all except one mostly derogatory in connotation. The prevailing current senses of the word are (1) 'words or expressions used by a particular group or profession', and (2) 'incomprehensible talk, gibberish', with the second regarded as arising conceptually out of the first, although this is not how the meanings evolved historically. The exception just mentioned is the meaning 'the inarticulate utterance of birds', which is the oldest sense, is found in Chaucer, and as the Old English (up to 1150)D notes 'has been revived in modern [i.e. 19th century] literature', e.g. by Longfellow:

With beast and bird the forest rings, Each in his jargon cries or sings—Return of Spring 6.

Both meanings given above developed (apart from an isolated Middle English use of the second) in the 17th century; there is a good example in the notice 'Bookseller to Reader' published with Swift's Tale of a Tub (1704): If I should go about to tell the reader, by what accident I became master of these papers, it would, in this unbelieving age, pass for little more than the cant or jargon of the trade.

2.
jargon in the right place.
Every profession and sphere of activity develops its own jargon to enable its members or participants to communicate effectively with one another; medicine, law, gastronomy, sociology, and (most recently) computing are well-known examples. The following example is drawn from a work of literary criticism:

The view of the text...has been seriously challenged in recent years, mainly by structuralist and semiological schools of criticism. According to these, the text has no within, beneath or behind where hidden meanings might be secreted. Attention is instead focused exclusively on the processes and structures of the text and on the ways in which these produce meanings, positions of intelligibility for the reader or the specific effects of realism, defamiliarisation or whatever—T. Bennett, 1982.

It will be seen from this example that jargon consists of ordinary words used in special ways as well as specially devised words (such as defamiliarisation). Jargon often arises from a need for precision, when terms that would be acceptable in general contexts are not precise enough in specialized use, combined with a need for concision in order to avoid having to repeat lengthy expressions that are likely to recur in a piece of writing. When the archaeologist Colin Renfrew called the driving out of a people from their normal territory a constrained population displacement, he was using a term devised to summarize an argued proposition without having to repeat lengthy explanations each time.

3.
jargon in the wrong place.
Examples are given in the entry for gobbledegook of jargon misused, when it is intended to be intelligible to the public at large or to people who are not members of the profession or activity concerned. In the Oxford Guide to Plain English (2004), 154–6, Martin Cutts quotes the following example of jargon used by a housing association in letters to its tenants explaining why modernization work has been delayed: Find attached a draft programme for the anticipated commencement date on your property and we anticipate that the work will take three or four days to complete. Your next contact will be by the contractor...who will contact you individually about a week prior to the start at your house. If you anticipate any problems with access arrangements or require any further information, please do not hesitate to call...[etc.]. Cutts rewrites this section of the letter as follows, removing the jargon and simplifying the structure to produce a version that is not only much clearer but more reassuring to the reader when reassurance is the intention of the letter: I attach a programme which shows the likely starting date for work on your property. We expect the work will take three or four days to complete. You will hear next from the contractor...who will contact you about a week before work at your house begins. Please call...if you think the contractor will have any problems with access to your house, or if you need any more information.

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noun

1. Unintelligible or foolish talk: babble, blather, blatherskite, double talk, gabble, gibberish, jabber, jabberwocky, nonsense, prate, prattle, twaddle. See words.
2. A variety of a language that differs from the standard form: argot, cant², dialect, lingo, patois, vernacular. See words.
3. Specialized expressions indigenous to a particular field, subject, trade, or subculture: argot, cant², dialect, idiom, language, lexicon, lingo, patois, terminology, vernacular, vocabulary. See words.

n

Definition: specialized language; dialect
Antonyms: standard

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A special language belonging exclusively to a group, often a profession. Engineers, lawyers, doctors, tax analysts, and the like all use jargon to exchange complex information efficiently. Jargon is often unintelligible to those outside the group that uses it. For example, here is a passage from a computer manual with the jargon italicized: “The RZ887-x current loop interface allows the computer to use a centronics blocked duplex protocol.” (See slang.)

IN BRIEF: Special language of a particular work or group.

The jargon of the computer programmers left him totally baffled as to what they were talking about.

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Quotes:

"Psychobabble is... a set of repetitive verbal formalities that kills off the very spontaneity, candor, and understanding it pretends to promote. It's an idiom that reduces psychological insight to a collection of standardized observations, that provides a frozen lexicon to deal with an infinite variety of problems." - Richard D. Rosen

"Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable; it gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, if stated directly, would seem superficial, stale, frivolous, or false. The line between serious and spurious scholarship is an easy one to blur, with jargon on your side." - David Lehman

For a list of words related to jargon, see:

• Linguistics and Writing Systems - jargon: technical or specialized terminology of group or profession; obscure or unintelligible language

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See words rhyming with "jargon."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Jargon.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - jargon, specielt ordbrug
v. intr. - bruge jargon

2.
n. - ædelsten, skat, blandingsmineral af kisel og zirkon

Nederlands (Dutch)
vaktaal, ruige taal, jargon, kletsen, jargon gebruiken, in jargon veranderen

Français (French)
1.
n. - jargon, argot de métier
v. intr. - jargonner

2.
n. - variété de zirconium

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Jargon, Fachsprache
v. - unverständlich daherreden, einen Jargon sprechen

2.
n. - Jargon, (Abart des Zirkon

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - επαγγελματική φρασεολογία, (μτφ.) ακαταλαβίστικα, αλαμπουρνέζικα, (ορυκτολ.) γιαρκόν, παραλλαγή του ζιρκονίου
v. - μιλώ ακατανόητα, χρησιμοποιώ δυσνόητη επαγγελματική γλώσσα

Italiano (Italian)
gergo, esprimersi in gergo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - jargão (m), fala (f) ou conversa (f) incoerente ou sem sentido
v. - falar em ou utilizar jargão

Русский (Russian)
жаргон

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - jerga, lenguaje profesional
v. intr. - hablar en jerigonza, hablar de modo ininteligible

2.
n. - jergón, tipo de zircón opaco

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - jargong, fackspråk, struntprat, rotvälska
v. - använda jargong

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
专门术语, 梦话, 行话, 说行话, 喋喋不休, 说难懂的话

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 專門術語, 夢話, 行話
v. intr. - 說行話, 喋喋不休, 說難懂的話

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 은어, 사투리, 알아 들을 수 없는 말, 특수 용어
v. intr. - 은어를 쓰다, 사투리를 쓰다, 재잘거리다, 횡설수설하다

2.
n. - (보석) 지르콘의 변종

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 専門語, わけのわからない言葉

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) رطانه, لغه غير مفهومه, جوهرة او حجر كريم (فعل) تكلم كلام من ذهب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שפה מקצועית, מישלב דיבור, ז'רגון, קשקוש (בדיבור), עגה עממית נמוכה‬
v. intr. - ‮דיבר בלשון עילגת או מיוחדת‬
n. - ‮סוג זירקון שקוף למחצה וחסר-צבע‬

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