Are you ready to blitzscale your social skills and parallel-path confidence building capabilities?
We’ll double-click on a few KPIs and co-create a futureproof plan of attack for a complete
omni-channel approach. Comment below if you understood what I just
said. If you didn’t understand, you’re not alone.
Frankly, there isn’t much to understand. It might sound impressive or intimidating,
but it’s really just “garbage language”. Garbage language is a term coined by Anna
Wiener in her Silicon Valley memoir, Uncanny Valley. It’s an umbrella term for “corporatespeak”,
buzzwords, and business jargon. It’s the kind of language that is endemic
to the business world and modern corporate culture.
But is it an effective way to communicate? That’s exactly what we’re going to unpack
today! What’s up Explearners. Mary Daphne here
of explearning.co where we believe social skills are the key to the Good Life. What’s
the Good Life? It’s where you call the shots, you have a crew you can count on, and you’re
on a mission you care about. Before I jump in, I wanted to tell you about
a great free resource we’ve created for the Explearning community. It’s a comprehensive
small talk guide. If you find yourself grasping at thin air when you’re in unfamiliar social
situations, then our small talk guide is for you! Click the link in the description box
below to get the downloadable delivered to your inbox.
So why is garbage language considered garbage? Well, for starters it’s a bunch of mumbo-jumbo,
meaning it’s incoherent language devoid of meaning. Anna Wiener calls it a “nonlanguage
[that’s] neither beautiful nor especially efficient.”
And if it confuses you, then it’s achieved its purpose.
In fact, in her article, Garbage Language Why do corporations speak the way they do?
Molly Young posits that “the hideous nature of these words — their facility to warp
and impede communication — is also their purpose.”
Hold on - that seems odd, doesn’t it? The point of this type of communication is to
block communication? Seem oxymoronic, I’d say.
But as Molly Young points out, “Garbage language permeates the way that we think of
our jobs and shapes our identities as workers… The point is concealment; it is less obvious
what so many of us are trying to hide.” In computer programming, elegant coding solutions
are called patterns. By contrast, solutions that make the code more complex or less efficient
are called “anti-patterns”. Garbage language is an antipattern. It eschews
clarity in favor of complexity. In fact, going forward, let’s give this antipattern of
communication a name: “anti-communication”. Why Anti-Communication is a Problem
Anti-communication is problematic for many reasons. Let’s run through a few of them.
1. Causes Confusion If you can’t understand what someone is
saying, it’s hard to determine what to do next. Anti-communication sews confusion because
the message is garbled. There’s little accountability associated with it, because it’s unclear
what the meaning is in the first place. As Molly Young puts it, “In an environment
of constant auditing, it’s safer to use words that signify nothing and can be stretched
to mean anything, just in case you’re caught and required to defend yourself.”
This lack of clarity causes individuals and teams to make mistakes and veer off track.
2. Suppresses Communication Anti-communication is cloaked in self-important,
authoritative-sounding words and phrases. It’s intended to sound complex and unapproachable
so that it doesn’t invite a response, further communication, or investigative inquiry that
might contradict it. After all, it’s hard to speak out against
language that you don’t understand! This silences important dissenting opinions and
reduces the diversity of ideas being shared. 3. Produces Negative Emotions
Anti-communication employs large, intimidating language for another reason. It evokes feelings
of shame and inadequacy among the audience. The listeners feel embarrassed because they
don’t understand what is being said. This implicitly raises the speaker and lowers the
listeners. It’s a kind of power play that hurts the group.
Molly Young calls it “empowerment language” because it makes the person using it feel
more important and that their work is more meaningful than they may actually feel. It’s
self-aggrandizing. She says it’s “a way of selling our jobs back to ourselves.”
Chew on that for a minute. 4. Stifles Productivity
Because of all the reasons above, anti-communication can have a significant negative impact on
productivity. Confused colleagues, suppressed communication, and negative emotions all result
in less work getting done and more frustration among the people doing the work. These issues
often snowball and eventually you end up with project delays and employees quitting.
What’s even worse is when this style of communication leaks outside the workplace
into the rest of our lives. Imagine you started speaking this way to your
friends and family. Its empty meaninglessness has a distancing effect on those it’s used
on. Pushing away the people you care about most is the last thing you want to do. You
see how destructive this could be. So What Should We Do Instead?
The antidote to anti-communication is wonderfully straightforward: Say what you mean using as
simple language as you can muster. Instead of adding complexity to your communication,
stomp it out entirely. If you don’t have anything to say, then
say so, or better yet, say nothing at all. If you require further clarification before
providing an opinion, get that clarification. If you wish to be persuasive, take the time
to gather the data needed to bolster your claims. Or ask for that time.
Whatever the case, under no circumstances should you feel compelled to utter a nonsensical
garbage phrase that makes you sound authoritative while confusing people and wasting their time.
The goal in communication is not to sound self-important and smart. The goal is simply
to be understood. It is to be intelligible, comprehensible.
The best communication is the clear kind.
Phew, I guess we had a lot to say on that topic. Let’s quickly recap:
- Garbage language is nonlanguage. It’s anti-communication.
- Its function is to conceal a lack of understanding or authority.
- It causes confusion, suppresses communication, produces negative emotions, and stifles productivity
- For these reasons, it is the antipattern of communication.
Sure, when someone is using garbage language, they are saying words. But their meaning is
jumbled and nebulous. Don’t let garbage language trick you into thinking those who
use it are good communicators. If anything, when you hear garbage language,
treat that as a signal that the speaker doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Remember that our goal in communication is to achieve shared meaning, inclusivity, and
transparency. Clear communication shows clear thinking.
It produces results and engenders appreciation and respect.
So the next time you hear garbage language, push back with clear language, and demand
clear communication in return. So now that I've shared our thoughts, I would
love to hear about your experiences with garbage language and anti-communication. Where did
you encounter it and how did it make you feel? What strategies can you think of to combat
it? Share that with me and the Explearning community in the comments below.
And, if you loved this lesson, please be sure to let me know. You can give this video a
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And remember, the writeup of these lessons are always available on our blog at explearning.co/blog.
With that, have an awesome week, Explearners. Thank you so much for joining me and I’ll
see you next time for your next Explearning lesson.
Happy Explearning ⚡