The power of language

Sometimes I think that a good chunk of being a "professional" is just learning the jargon of your trade. I'm not trying to minimize the education and dedication that it takes to become a doctor, lawyer or any of the other fields deemed as professional, but it seems that each field has developed its own secret codes.

I noticed it first in graduate school with the language of education. Everybody who's ever watched a medical or legal drama on TV is somewhat aware of its existence. It's everywhere though and not just in the traditional professions. Every field and probably every company, even every organization, has its own catchwords. When I was employment recruiting, keeping up with jargon was a challenge, but a love of language made it a fun part of my job. When I first began training in my current job, sometimes it seemed like I was learning another language. When I mentioned this to one very smart trainer, our next session included a five page vocabulary list that I still carry with me.

It's just a sign of the complexity of our times. Many linguists will tell you that over the last several generations, the vocabulary of the average person has shrunk by several hundred words. Words once regarded as staples of conversation and everyday writing are often unrecognized. Sometimes I think though that this perspective hasn't accommodated the growth of job and hobby specific language. While the shared language may be shrinking, and individuals may not know as many of the older words, the language of subgroups looks like it's growing.

This seems both a gain and a loss to me. Language, being dynamic, evolves. New words and new usages are exciting, but the loss of common ground scares me a little. We already have so many things we can use to separate people from each other. The best writing, to me, has always been that which has made me vicariously experience the honest reality of another's life. It has been the writing in which I could see myself in someone very different, whether that difference was created by time, gender, race, geography, culture, class or some other factors. It hasn't mattered if the writing involved was fact or fiction, or even a tool used as part of another medium. If it was really good, it showed me what I shared with many other people.

The power of language to divide cannot be ignored. I've wondered before how many cultures have versions of the Tower of Babel in their mythology. When man tried to over-reach and build a tower that could take them to heaven, the common language of all man was struck down and suddenly people could no longer understand everyone else. Languages were born. That story has always spoken to me of the power of finding the common ground. I know, of course, that it reflects that man cannot reach God/dess by their own efforts and is a cautionary tale about the pride and presumption of thinking one could be like God/dess. In the Bible, it's also a subtle foreshadowing of the grace that cannot be earned but merely received. It also shows how strong and how powerful we can be when we work together.

That's one of the reasons why despite the gifts that jargon brings, I distrust and dislike it. Jargon, unlike slang, generally works from the top down. In a worst case scenario, it's a classist tool to keep some people uninformed. Like slang, it shows who's on the outside and who's in. It's been said that precise language usage and good grammar are actually signs of elitism, but I couldn't disagree more. A good, clean simple sentence can be the most solid common ground people can find. Look at effect of four short words -- "I have a dream."

I love words, large and small. I love them strung together with grace and rhythm. I love them piled up in masses between stiff covers. More than that, though, I love them when just the right ones are chosen that make people understand. "Le mot juste" (the right word) is actually a tool of love.

language