Alyssa Vergara Oct.

28, 2013 ENGL 106 Halliday Reading Response: Beware of Jargon

In this article the author warns about how certain types of vernacular are hard or impossible for others outside of the discourse community to understand. Many people are guilty of doing these are mentioned in the article, such as insurance companies and management. The author argues that specific jargon is only helpful when it serves a purpose such as if its a shortcut. A specific term can sum up decades of argument and thought. However, too much jargon can make understanding more difficult instead of easier to understand. This is a immense problem because we live in an era where people have to communicate and work across different discourses. I think the author makes great points in this article. Using important words and specific jargon tends to make people feel important, almost like their trying to prove their own intelligence; when most of the jargon they use is not necessary. I think that communicating with others using the appropriate portion of jargon makes that person more intelligent then someone who is trying to prove something. Because that person is trying to accomplish something rather then show off their extensive knowledge of jargon. Also, I think sometimes jargon is used to purposefully confuse people, such as in legal documents or insurance. They can get

people to blindly sign contracts with unfavorable contents simply because they cant understand the jargon used.