Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Doesn’t Q & A mean quiche and asparagus?
















After presentations, the usual jargon for a Question and Answer period is Q&A. We’d be surprised to find that to a foodie it instead meant serving quiche and asparagus.

Tony Carrillo sprung that one on us in today’s F Minus cartoon. That narrow niche meaning reminded me of a previous post asking Does your use of jargon need tweaking? 

A post on Peggy Jordan’s Working Words blog about Why Clarity Counts described hearing about an expert on Short Term Disability insurance coverage who glibly referred to that product with the acronym STD - which most of us would have instead assumed meant a Sexually Transmitted Disease.

Another confusing insurance acronym is AD&D for Accidental Death and Dismemberment. That type of insurance policy actually covers either death or dismemberment. They don’t require that both occur together, although that is what it sounds like to me. 

Images of quiche and asparagus came from Wikimedia Commons.

2 comments:

michael platania said...

Q&A - Quiche and Asparagus...very funny!

I often find that people who use jargon are trying to sound impressive, although they often are not.

nahidworld said...

Wow the picture given looks nice and delicious. I want to eat some. And also nice post.
Quiches