Jargonism is a manufactured term. It won’t be found in a dictionary. But that doesn’t preclude it from having meaning. And that is both a wondrous and problematic thing.
It is wondrous as it shows how words gather meaning from how they are used and it is that use, when combined with a context and the abilities of the interlocutor to comprehend the speaker’s intent.
It is problematic as it is an example of how language can be massaged into terms of art designed to convey narrow, potentially misleading, and often manipulative meanings.
I point this out to, hopefully, excuse myself from charges of the latter.
For the purposes of this space, Jargonism has two primary meanings.
1. It refers to how marketing, PR, media and politics in particular employ language and more importantly meaning to influence ideas and action.
2. It also refers to the notion that language is a living orgamism. It evolves and expands. Its parts form a system that sustains and influences itself to create a sustained and intentional whole.
It’s my intent to use these concepts as a lens to explore and discuss how words are used, abused, misused and confused in media, marketing & advertising, communications, political life and the common vernacular.
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