Language at work redux!

[gothams3rdrobin]

So, a week or so back I posted about my current assignment for the OU, looking into 'Workplace Discourse Communities'. Now, my workplace has a number of good examples I can use for my essay, but I was talking to my Dad about it the other day and got to wondering about how language is used in other workplaces.

So I'm putting it out there to my flist; are there any unique or unusual ways in which you use language to communicate in the course of your working life? Think about, for example, the kind of language you hear when you listen to specialists like doctors, engineers, lawyers, where if you didn't know the 'lingo' (so you're not part of that particular discourse community) you wouldn't have a clue what they were talking about. Are there examples of this kind of thing in the work you do? Does the way you speak to a colleague differ to the way you speak to a client, or someone outside the company but still connected to your work?

It's not just limited to the spoken language either, as there's all sorts of terminology that's used in written english too; abbreviations that would be understood by someone else in the company, the formality of official letter writing, that sort of thing.

'Discourse Communities' are everywhere, in fact, not just in the workplace. For example, here on the internet we're part of any number of such communities just by virtue of understanding abbreviations like 'WTF', 'FTW' and 'ROFLMAO' *grins* When we use phrases we picked up from TV writers like Joss Wheadon or Aaron Sorkin, or simply get into a deep discussion about our favourite book, movie, record etc. that would leave any 'outsider' staring blankly at us like we're talking another language, that also makes us part of specific discourse communities.

I find it quite interesting to think about :-) Just hope I can do it justice in the essay!

Comments

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

Oodles of jargon and special lingo and TLAs in my line of work, but I'm not sure I can give you any examples, since a full explanation could be construed as giving away trade secrets.

[gothams3rdrobin.livejournal.com]

*grins* That I can totally understand, as my own line of work is subject to data security.

I'm betting you talk differently amongst your team than you do with any outside agents though, right?

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally. Teams of people who've worked together for a while soon develop their own shorthand, after all.

[gothams3rdrobin.livejournal.com]

This is it *nods* Any customer who requests a printout of the diary notes for their policy - and some do, if there's a major complaint - would have to decipher the shorthand we use to allow us to quickly read what others have done, while that person is on the phone.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I don't work so I can't contribute anything :(

[gothams3rdrobin.livejournal.com]

Ah but see, you could! The volunteer work you do counts, in my view - I never have any clue what people are talking about when they're discussing anything political ;-)

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

Um. I'd have to think about it. All that comes to mind right now is filibusters and supermajorities and constitutional laws/amendments, legislation, Roe v Wade, Brown vs Board of Education, Whips, Majority/Minority leaders... that kind of thing?

[gothams3rdrobin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, something like that - jargon like 'supermajorities' is the kind of thing we would be looking at, definitely. That would defintely need explaining to a 'layperson' like me! ;-) And 'Crown Vs Jones' etc is very much a legislative language convention, isn't it.

It's stuff like everyday words used in discussions where they have a totally different context to what an outsider would expect.

One good example from my workplace is the word 'action'. There are three kind of notes you can make on a policy; the Call diary, for when you're logging a phone conversation with a customer, a History diary for emails and other notes, and an Action diary for when something needs to be flagged for attention - very much like an 'Action Point' from a meeting (which is also a specialised use of the word). At work we often say "Can you action me to deal with that?" when we want someone to leave such a note on the policy, so that you can easily find the policy later on when you're free to deal with it.