I just read Rowan Simpson’s post on the pitiful number of people who actually know what a browser is:

It got me thinking about jargon.

A while back I talked to an interior designer. I LOVE interior decorating and while I know it’s a different kettle of fish, I was fascinated about what she did day to day. When I asked about what she did, she kept saying ‘first we create a story’ or ‘then the room has a story’. Eventually, I had to ask what exactly a story was in relation to interior design. Apparently, she wasn’t too sure (either that or the concept of a ‘story’ is very hard to explain).

I HATE jargon. Jargon is such an easy thing to hide behind. All it does is make your customers feel stupid and you feel smart. Which, in my opinion is not a good balance when they are paying you.

Our customers are an even split of really onto it web people, and people who couldn’t really care less about how the internet works, they just use it (i.e the people in the video). I often find myself explaining the basics, and I can’t use jargon. It makes you question how much you know and how well you know it – if you can’t explain a term simply, then my guess is you don’t really understand it yourself.

I know ‘browser’ is not jargon as such, but my mind works in funny ways.