11 February 1985Use of business slang studied

Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke at a recent news conference responded to a question by saying "we're putting that on the back burner" but how well did those hearinq the comment understand what he was saying ?

Mr Hawke was using what has become known as business slang, and chances are there would have been a lot of people in commercial and political circles who understood exactly what he meant.

But how important is the use of business slang for those wanting to show they are up with the trend.Lincoln College Foundation Professor of Finance and Accounting Roger Juchau set out to find whether business slang helps or hinders communication, or just irritates those who hear it.Before leaving Australia to take up his appointment at Lincoln, Professor Juchau carried out a survey on business slang, along with a colleague at the Nepean College of Advanced Education Michael Galvin.

Professor Juchau headed the Nepean CAE School of Business, in Western Sydney, and Mr Galvin is in the communications
department there.

They surveyed the finance directors of 200 of Australia's larqest companies to get their views on business slang.

They were given a list of business slang : bottom line, get your act together , K for a thousand, entropy, eyeball-to-eyeball reinventinq the wheel, back to square one, hands on, conventional wisdom. thumbs up, trending, interface, parameters, put you right, buzz words, logistics, at this point
in time, off the track, down the track, viable, case in point, vis-a-vis, watershed, networking, at your earliest convenience, mid-course correction, accountability, ballpark figure, counterproductive, mindset, synergistic and uptight.

Many businessmen might get quite uptight eyeball-to-eyeball with that list, and a substantial minority - 34 per cent of those surveyed - found the words and phrases quite unacceptable.

Professor Juchau said this 34 per cent was annoyed by such language, and 35 per cent said the language interfered with communication.

Half of those surveyed said they believed people should write and speak carefully, usinq standard English and not any other kind of language.

Obviously many of the words and phrases have an American origin, and this can attract or repel depending on an individual's attitude to American influence.

Someone using the business slang could be seen as a bell-wether or just a trendy, depending on the attitude of the listener.

The Juchau-Galvin survey also asked about listener attitudes to those using business slang.

Those responding to the survey were asked to assess the sort of person who used the slang.

They could tick up to 10 points on whether the slang came from one who talked a lot, was creative, on the rise, wanted to feel like an insider, well thought of by higher management, in the know on important things, expressed ideas well, usually first with ideas, or flashy without substance.

They were also asked to say the sort of person who typically used newer business slang and where this person was in the business hierarchy
top executive down to supervisor.

Professor Juchau said the survey results showed that business slang did not find blanket acceptance.

Most agreed that the slang had a value, but qualified this by saying use of the slang depended on the circumstances.

Only 16 per cent of those surveyed said they would use business slang in formal on-the-job writing, but 56 per cent said they would do so when writing informally.

More businessmen use the slang when speaking formally - as Mr Hawke did at his news conference but 86 per cent use the language in informal
conversation.

Two thirds of the executives who responded to the survey said that at times using business slang was the most precise and exact way to express
what they wanted to say.

Seventy per cent of them agreed that using a business slang expression could make talking easier.

Over all sixty per cent did not see the slang as interfering with communication.

Professor Juchau said that while business slang was accepted as useful by most, there were not marked positive or negative values associated with those using the slang.

Only 19 per cent said their opinions of others varied with the use of jargon, but almost the same proportion saw those using jargon as being insecure.

Forty per cent said they thought those using the latest in-words were being pretentious, but most didn't see them as unoriginal thinkers for using the slang.

Professor Juchau said that the most rapid and subtle changes in using English was in slang, jargon or cliches in business argot.

"More and more we are told by others in commerce to put pet ideas on the back burner, come up with a ballpark figure, touch base with the boss, or not to forget the bottom line," he said.

"Terminals and keyboards are now very commonly used by managers, so a seeping out of terms from computer technology is becoming a flood.

"Some managers are even being assessed on whether they are user friendly."

The spread of computer-speak is only the latest in on-going tension in English between the standard language of the well educated, general user, and the use of esoteric terms - accepted by the ingroup.

"As with other uses of language, whether crude humour on a solemn occasion, or blasphemy in church, business slang can provoke a strong reaction," he said.

"Some enthusiastically accept business slang ; others reject the language completely."

Professor Juchau said the purpose of the study was to go beyond anecdotes on acceptance of business slang, and find out what executives really saw as the use and value of the slang.

In the study the term business slang expression referred to a word or phrase, usually ephemeral, often non-standard, rarely found in dictionaries defined as in business use, frequently used to communicate in business.

"Most books and opinion on business English comes from English teachers or professional writers who have bias against slang," he said.

"They see slang as an abuse of language, an adulteration of the pristine purity of a language which has given us everything from Shakespeare to the evening news on television.

"To such people slang is at best a sign of sloppy thinking ; at worst, as a sign of no thinking at all."

Professor Juchau said the study was intended to seek the attitudes of senior communicators not committed to the values of standard English.

Those who responded to the survey came from upper management, middle management, administration : most were men, who outnumbered
women nearly eight to one.

Could be that on the bottom line there is potential for entropy, and the chance of mid-course correction of conventional wisdom at this point in time.

Business slang could be trending to an interface with those who are still way down the track, bringing about a watershed in communication, but unless those pushing business slang can get their act together they could find their language counter-productive.