I work for a FTSE energy company and have just taken part in a leadership conference update call (called "One Big Gossip"), during which I counted no fewer than 90 pieces of management jargon used in an hour. The constant use of such phrases is creating a culture in which talking utter gibberish is the only way to demonstrate that you "see the bigger picture".
我在一家富时能源指数成分股企业工作，刚刚参加了一个领导力更新电话会议（有"大八卦"之称）。我数了一下，会上一小时内讲的管理学行话不少于90条。在频繁使用这种语言的氛围里，你不胡说八道，就没法展示自己“胸怀全局”。
The managing director, who is one of the worst offenders, frequently asks for direct feedback on the nature of these calls. Do I stay quiet or speak up and risk career suicide?
最喜欢搞这一套的是我们的董事总经理。他常常请我们对这些电话会议的性质作出直接反馈。我是该保持沉默，还是冒"职业自杀"的危险说实话？
Manager, male, 34
经理，男，34岁
Lucy's answer
露西的回答
I've spent the past 20 years telling business people to cut out the jargon and in that time I have failed to persuade one single person to do so. If you tell your boss to talk more elegantly, I guarantee it won't make any difference to what comes out of his mouth but it may make a big difference to how he regards you. As a nuisance, a pedant or a person who prefers style to substance, for instance.
过去20年里，我不断告诫商界人士，别再说行话，但从来没有一个人听我的。如果你告诉你的老板，讲话要简洁一些，我担保他的讲话风格不会改变一丝一毫，但他对你的看法却会大大改变。比如，他会认为你很讨厌，是个书呆子，或注重形式多过本质。
The problem with jargon is that though everyone complains that others talk it, no one will ever admit to speaking it themselves. So telling them to stop is hopeless as they don't think that they ever started.
行话的问题是，尽管每个人都抱怨别人说行话，但没有人会承认自己也说。因此，告诉别人别说行话注定没有用，因为他们认为自己根本没说过。
There are lots of reasons why people start spouting this nonsense, all of them fairly insidious. It may be because they haven't worked out what exactly they want to say and talking twaddle masks this. Or because they think it makes them sound more important. Or because it is infectious and they've caught it from each other.
人们讲行话的原因有许多，每一种都有点不可告人。可能是因为他们还没想好到底要说什么，所以说些废话来掩盖这一点。也可能是因为，他们认为说行话能使自己听上去更重要。或者是因为说行话会传染——他们互相传染了。
But in your case, where a lot of colleagues are all going at it hammer and tongs together, it is probably because they are signalling to each other that they belong to the same club. In that case, the problem isn't how they talk, but how you do. By refusing to step up to the plate and put your skin in the game, you are showing that you don't belong. I'm not suggesting that you desecrate your own vocabulary, but that you acknowledge that you are a foreigner, and try to turn that to your advantage.
但在你说的这种情况下，许多同事一齐卖力地说着行话，或许是因为这些人想显示他们是一伙儿的。在这种情况下，他们怎么说无关紧要，你怎么说才是问题所在。拒绝参与这场游戏，就是在显示你不属于这个小圈子。我不是在建议你糟蹋自己的用词，而是在建议你承认自己是个圈外人，并将此转化为自己的优势。
In any case, I don't think the biggest problem with your boss is his jargon. It's the fact he wants to waste 90 minutes of everyone's time on a telephonic "One Big Gossip". This is two terrible ideas rolled into one: no gossip can ever take place in an official mass meeting. And to have such big conference calls is the best way to sap spirits and waste time simultaneously.
无论如何，我不认为你老板的最大问题是喜欢说行话。他想让所有人浪费90分钟的时间参加一个“大八卦”电话会议，才是他的最大问题。八卦和电话会议本身就不是什么好主意，把两者合二为一就更糟：八卦永远都上不了正式会议的台面。而召开这么大规模的电话会议，则是同时消磨意志和浪费时间的最佳方法。
If you want to give more helpful feedback, can't you gently suggest canning the calls altogether? If no one was allowed to talk at all, this would have the excellent side effect that they wouldn't be able to use any of the 90 banned phrases.
如果你想给点有益的反馈，能不能委婉地提议干脆取消此类电话会议？没有这种场合，就没人能把那90句行话说出口了，那岂不是很妙。
If you think this too radical, at least you have found the ideal way of staying awake during these interminable calls: playing your own version of bullshit bingo.
如果你认为这样的建议太过分了，至少你找到了在这些没完没了的电话会议上保持清醒的方法：玩你自创的数行话"宾戈游戏"。
Your advice
读者的建议
You can't win
你毫无胜算
Aldous Huxley said: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad."
英国作家奥尔德斯•赫胥黎(Aldous Huxley)曾说：“你会知道真相，而真相会让你疯了。”
There is no way for you to succeed by being the only one speaking out. If you can't beat them, join them. Become the jargon expert. Add more to the lexicon. Keep adding. At some point, someone at the organisation will realise what utter nonsense it all is, or you will be king.
如果只有你一个人说实话，你成功的希望是零。如果无法打败他们，那就加入他们。把行话说溜。自创一些行话。不断添加。到某个时候，公司中会有人意识到说行话是多么无聊，或者你已坐上王者之座。
IT director, male, 43
IT总监，男，43岁
Culture club
文化俱乐部
It is evident that the managing director has fostered this culture of using jargon, so to attack it directly might indeed be career-limiting. But do sift through the jargon to determine the real value of the call and the rather direct feedback on the issues raised, and whether they contributed to your understanding of the business strategy.
显然，你们的董事总经理打造了一种爱说行话的文化，因此直接攻击这种文化可能确实不利于你的职业前景。但请务必看透行话，确定电话会议的真实价值，以及会上提出的事项所得到的颇为直接的反馈，看它们是否增进了你对业务战略的理解。
Female employee, 35
女职员，35岁
They're all thick
都是些蠢人
I had colleagues who finished their emails off with jargon phrases such as "passionate about growth", which were meant to indicate energy, enthusiasm and loyalty. Actually, all it indicates is a lack of intellectual rigour. To make it plain: the users are thick.
我的一些同事写邮件时通篇都是"对增长满怀热情"这样的行话（这句话实际上想表达的是精力旺盛、干劲十足、忠心耿耿）。事实上，写出这样的话全都是因为脑子不灵。说白了就是：这些人蠢。
There is nothing you can do about that: they will always be thick. Using their limited intellectual ability to invent jargon means they have less time to spend on ruining the business. So leave it and be grateful.
在这个问题上，你做不了什么：这些人会一直蠢下去。他们把有限的智商用在了发明行话上，意味着他们可用于糟蹋业务的时间变少了。所以，别管了，你还应该感到庆幸。
Anon
匿名
Confusion reigns
别搞混了
Jargon and gibberish are not the same. Shared jargon is an efficient way to communicate. I suspect all FT readers know what we mean by blue-sky thinking, walking the talk and taking it offline.
行话跟胡扯不是一回事。大家都说行话，是一种高效率的沟通方式。我猜英国《金融时报》的读者们都知道这些说法：蓝天思考（blue-sky thinking，指不受现实条件约束的自由思考——译者注），走话（walking the talk，指履行说过的话——译者注），带下线（taking it offline，指会后再说——译者注）。
Gibberish is something else entirely. Many people are able to talk complete gibberish without using a word of jargon. It sounds as if it ought to make sense but it doesn't. If your boss is guilty of this then you have a big problem and one that is not likely to be corrected by pointing it out.
胡扯则完全是另一回事。许多人即使不说行话，也能胡扯。胡扯就是听起来似乎有道理，实际上毫无意义。如果你的老板热衷于胡扯，那问题就大了。而且这种问题你说了也没用。
Anon
匿名
Why does my weakness matter?
为什么要问我有什么弱点？
I've just been asked in a job interview to name my greatest weakness. This is such a feeble clichéd question – but still it took me unawares. I hummed and hawed for a bit and then said something like: I really don't think I can give an impartial answer – why don't you ask my wife, I'm sure she'll be able to help you out. It was meant as a joke, but the temperature in the room plummeted. Needless to say I didn't get the job. But I'd like to know: why do people ask this stupid question? And what is the right answer to it?
我刚刚在求职面试中被问到这样一个问题：你最大的弱点是什么？这个问题简直老掉牙了，但我仍然不知道该怎么回答。我支支吾吾了一会儿，然后说了类似这样的话：我想我真的没法给出一个不带偏见的答案，你何不问问我太太，我想她肯定会给你一个满意的答案。这本来是句玩笑，但却让谈话气氛陡然变冷。不用说，我没通过面试。但我想知道：人们为什么要问一个这么愚蠢的问题？这个问题到底该怎么回答呢？
Unemployed, male, 52
失业者，男，52岁