Nothing screams over 50 as much as receiving your biannual bowel cancer test kit. Not that I am complaining as I am grateful I live in a country where this is a free service.

Simple Instructions

When I recently undertook the test, I have to say I was impressed with the simplicity of the instructions. Two steps specifically caught my eye.

They were:

1. Before collecting your sample, empty your bladder (do a wee).
2. You need to collect two tiny samples from two separate bowel movements (poos) – one each poo.

‘Empty your bladder’ or ‘bowel movements’ are the way health professionals talk as it is their default language. But most people easily understand and connect with the day to day real words of ‘do a wee and a poo’.

Have you had a bowel movement this morning?  Sorry???

Have you done a poo?  Ahh yes.

Default Jargon

This got me thinking that this is exactly what happens in business. We use the default language of jargon and acronyms that are not always easily understood. Such as:

‘The optics are not good’ What???

‘This will look bad’ Ahh yes.

‘We need to pivot’ What???

‘We need to change direction’ Ahh yes.

So next time you use the default language of jargon, think about the equivalent real word you could use like ‘wee and poo’.

And talking about wee and poo, I was going to end with saying we need to stop pissing around and talking shit. But then I thought that would be inappropriate, so I won’t.

I will instead end with a quote from George Orwell who said, ‘Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.’