The video linked above is a joke, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_encabulator , but it helps make a very important point about what it sounds like when experts fail to consider their audience when communicating. People with lots of experience who know a lot about their chosen field and who mostly communicate with other experts often find it difficult to communicate with non-experts, or even with experts in other fields. They'll use terms their audience isn't familiar with and assume the audience knows as much as the expert does. It can sound like a bunch of nonsense.

One way to avoid frustrating or confusing your audience, whatever your level of expertise, is to pay attention to the jargon you use. Jargon is any specialized word, phrase, or expression that people in one field use that people in other fields don't use (or use in a different way).

Jargon can be acronyms and initialisms like SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) or Interpol (The International Criminal Police Organization). At the University of South Florida, teachers and administrators often use the letters "FDA" instead of saying the entire phrase "https://www.usf.edu/innovative-education/digital-learning/digital-learning-resources/fda_egrades.aspx." Someone overhearing those conversations might assume we're discussing the Food and Drug Administration, which is the more common meaning of "FDA" outside of higher education. This kind of jargon is easy to spot in your own writing, and many people find that simply spelling out acronyms and initialisms on the first usage in a communication is the easiest way to avoid confusion.

Jargon can also be the names of specialized tools or technologies that people outside a profession wouldn't recognize, like a "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudger" This form of jargon can also be easy to spot, unless you do a lot of spudging with other spudging experts all day long. Over time, it may be very easy to assume everyone you speak to has at least a passing familiarity with spudging implements. You may forget there was ever a time when the word struck you as strange or unfamiliar, until you ask someone to hand you a spudger and all you receive is a blank stare.

One sneaky form of jargon that can be difficult to notice is specialized uses of common, everyday words. For example, the term "shrinkage" (or "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkage_(accounting)") means something very different in retail contexts than it does in everyday conversation, where it simply means something is getting smaller. Retail shrink refers to any difference between the number of items you expect to sell and what you actually sell, whether that difference is due to an item breaking in the store, inventory errors, shoplifting, or anything else. People who work in retail can simply refer to shrink or shrinkage when discussing these types of losses, and don't have to worry that other people in their organization will get confused and think that their store is getting physically smaller.

We use jargon to save time when communicating with other experts, but using jargon also demonstrates to those other experts that you "speak their language" and can "talk the talk." For that reason, we often try to balance using jargon in ways that are efficient and expected with ensuring that each reader will be able to understand our message, whatever their level of expertise.

1- For this discussion, research the jargon of any field or profession (business, welding, computer science, and pharmaceuticals are all good places to start) and post the three most interesting or confusing examples of jargon you find. Make sure to include a short definition of each term.If you are currently working in a field or workplace with a lot of jargon, you can use examples from your own experience.