What does all this mean?

I listen to a number of different podcasts when I go out for my lunchtime walk. Some are for fun like Older and Wider, Table Manners and others for educational value such as Somethin Rhymes with Purple. I have just started listening to one called The High Low, a weekly conversation between writers Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes, that covers highbrow and lowbrow culture.

It’s mildly entertaining and informative. The thing that’s annoying me though is these words that they keep using all the time which just sound odd and I don’t really understand.  I literally had to Google one of them.

They frequently use the phrase “that’s woke” or “she/he is woke”. I do understand the meaning i.e. that someone or something is an awareness of some social injustice. It just sounds weird.

The one I had to look up was zeitgeist. Apparently its the defining mood or spirit of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/zeitgeist

They use those phrases several times an episode. To be honest its a bit annoying.

The use of language and words or jargon does demonstrate ones education and background but it can also make others uncomfortable or intimidated if they don’t understand.

I sit in many a meeting where acronyms are used all the time. Sometimes I sit quietly and eventually figure it out but other times I have had to ask what they mean. Sometimes the reply can be patronising as if to say “duh, its obvious”. Its only obvious if its familiar.

#bellringing has an awful lot of jargon and weird names for things like “lead end” or “treble bobbing”. For a beginner its like a foreign language trying to navigate some of the terms. As #bellringing teachers we really must ensure that we explain things in a way that the learner can understand, and that might mean different ways to different people. As teachers we must become multilingual.

Baking also has some strange phrases such as to “blind bake” is not to wear a mask so you can’t see what you’re doing, but to pre bake something like a pie crust before putting the filling in it.

In all I do, say and communicate in whatever way, I prefer to use the KISS acronym Keep It Simple, Stupid. Say what you mean and mean what you say.