Industry Jargon

I was wondering today, as I chatted with some of my friends online. Why on earth do we ever had this thingy, known worldwide as "industry jargon"?

Industry jargon is basically language peculiar to that particular industry. It is very unlikely that people who are not working in that industry to know exactly "what in the world is going on". Why can't we have language in plain, simple terms? In other words, "layman's terms". Come on practitioners, it won't be a step down the corporate ladder if you can tweak the words.

I remember sometime ago about something I read in The Straits Times (an English-language newspaper in Singapore). The gist of what I read, in my own words: to stem the flow of mis-communication between lawyers & their clients, the law industry will now contain less of the exclusive terms used between lawyers.

How & where can one find examples of industry jargon? Look no further than the accounting industry.

I remember when I was much younger & studied basic accounting. The terms associated with it include: debit, credit & my all-time favourite: SUSPENSE ACCOUNT. My accounts never balanced, with the exception of ONE QUESTION. It was because I worked my butt off to get the correct answer to that question in school; not that I never worked hard/smart at accounting & other subjects. I can still remember the name of the company in the question: Bubblewash.

Somewhere along the accounting study that I undertook, I was taught that if one's accounts do not balance, you can place that "mis-balanced account" into this new account called the Suspense Account. For me, it is no big mystery as to the reason behind its name but what would the average person on the street think?

I'm not being wishy-washy on this subject & I am not insulting accounting. Like what I have explained in the header of my blog, "... a random collection of my thoughts ..."

To leave you with one more example of where you can find "industry jargon".

If you have ever signed any agreements, like loan agreements or if & when you download any instant messaging icons, you will find yourself bogged down with loads of industrial jargon, before you ever arrive at the all-important "SIGN HERE" and/or "I AGREE/DISAGREE".