Newspeak is not for Architects. Why Architects should not and cannot use trendy buzzwords filtering into today’s English language.
Why? Because Architects have to be specific.
Let’s say that with a bit more emphasis: ARCHITECTS NEED TO SPEAK, WRITE AND DRAW IN A SPECIFIC MANNER. There can’t be multiple meanings.
That’s either a 2×4 or a 2×6.
And it’s either a #2 SYP (#2 grade Southern Yellow Pine) or a Douglas Fir #1 grade.
Architects should not and cannot indulge in today’s buzzwords circulating just about everywhere, especially using “Newspeak”. You will find this usage occurring in meetings where some of the people present want to appear to be knowledgeable and “hip”, however, their use of “fuzzy” words betrays their actual lack of understanding of what is being discussed.
What Newspeak catchphrases and buzzwords? Here are just a few that you should expunge from your vocabulary immediately:
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REACHING OUT
DEEP DIVE
CIRCLE BACK
ALIGNMENT
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
DISRUPT
CLOSE THE LOOP
BACK POCKET
BANDWIDTH
HARD STOP
LOCKSTEP
IMPACTFUL
LINE IN THE SAND
INK THE DEAL
MESSAGING
LEVERAGE
MOVE THE NEEDLE
PARADIGM SHIFT
SYNERGY
VERY UNIQUE
UNPACK
UTILIZE
PIVOT
TOOLKIT
TOUCH BASE
IN A FEW
TABLE THIS
PING ME
PIGGYBACKING
OUT OF THE BOX
ON YOUR RADAR
OFFLINE
QUICK QUESTION
COLLABORATE
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Why? Because when these phrases are used in a sentence, the meaning of what you are trying to say is obscured by these hip-sounding “nothing” words. Let’s see an example:
“I’ll ping you in a few, so I can reach out to the boots on the ground to touch base with them and collaborate about the pivot deep dive.”
Huh? Say what? Who? Did you cringe? We did. Whatever happened to sentence structure 101? Subject (usually a noun)-Verb. Yes you can sort-of, kind-of try to break that mish-mash down into a semblance of structure, but it falls apart with its vague references. Don’t you ever be guilty of saying or writing such a thing.
George Orwell wrote a popular novel called 1984 (written many years before that, when that year would have been perceived as the far-future). In it, he discussed NEWSPEAK, in which evil forces purposely worked to change contemporary language to obfuscate proper logical intentional meaning. Essentially, removing the ability to accomplish just about anything, because language was being intentionally watered down and turned into a liquid mass of meaningless jelly. Don’t let that happen to you. Certainly not if you are an Architect. Here’s an interesting article about Mr. Orwell’s views on Newspeak from his novel 1984: 1984 Newspeak.
Say what you mean. Not “Reaching Out”, but rather: “I’m going to phone Jennifer so we can discuss this project.” Or: “I’ll email Frank today.” There is no dramatic “reaching out” for anything. You are going to mainly phone or email, or maybe meet in person. Say what you intend to do.
And one of the worst: CIRCLE BACK. You should know that this phrase is negative and means “NO” when directed toward you. Watch out for people using this against you, especially if you have said or suggested some specific course of action, then someone said: “We’ll have to circle back to you on that…”
Definition: “NO. And not only NO, but hell no. But I don’t have the morals to tell you to your face, so I will hide behind this sketchy phrase and NEVER get back to you, ever.”
So you shouldn’t use this. Not a nice phrase to hide your true intentions behind it.
And the ever-infamous DEEP DIVE. This catch phrase really doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone is going to research in minute detail anything. It could mean they will do nothing. Or perhaps ask one or two people their opinion. Once again: it is non-specific. Don’t trust it, or the people using it. And YOU should never use it. If you’re going to research something as a Licensed Architect, say exactly what it is that you are intending to do:
I’m going to research the International Residential Code.
Bob will cut a Building Section to analyze the spacial relationships.
Lisa is going to zoom in on the plan arrangement to examine if there is a conflict of appliances.
Specific.
COLLABORATE: real definition: whoever is using that word wants to take over your project in the guise of “working with you.” Their actual intent is to remove the real Architect from the job so they can substitute whatever they want and push the Architect to the wayside so no licensed professional is watching what they are doing and what they are substituting for the good products specified by the Architect. Beware Contractors and others who suggest “collaborating.” It’s Newspeak bunk for wanting to take over your project and damage you in the process.
QUICK QUESTION: baloney. This is usually used by some spam marketing jerk who wants to waste an hour of your time while they try to discover your secret passwords and other information so they can spam you and rob you. There’s one thing this approach is guaranteed to not be: and that is a “quick question.” Delete, delete, delete.
Use your language skills (you were taught them, as an Architect) learned in Grade School, High School, college and graduate school. You could never have received your architectural professional degree without proper language skills. Do not be influenced to dumb-down your language by hip-sounding others. It’s not “hip” to trash language to a point where nobody understands what anybody else is doing, what they really want and what they really intend to do (course of action).
Here’s a great article by the freelance writer Kat Boogaard about this subject: Buzzwords. She does an even better job of discussing why none of us should be trashing up our speech or writing with them. Thanks Kat.