Paraphrasing Gordon Gekko

"Jargon, for lack of a better word, is good. Jargon is right, jargon works. Jargon clarifies, cuts through..."

I have been thinking about jargon lately and it helped to see a recent article by John C. Dvorak: Down With Dumbing Down.

I think he is right to criticize newspapers for avoiding jargon, and generally not respecting the intelligence of their readers. Isn't it good to enhance ones vocabulary? Shouldn't one who reads a newspaper generally have access to a dictionary?

Dvorak notes that jargon is often more precise, and often shorter. I would accurate.

Some reason examples were given to me as a way to avoid jargon. And in those cases the "more user friendly" method was often longer and less accurate. More open for interpretation. Of course in this post-Clinton era even the definition of the word "is" is open for interpretation.

Legal and scientific issues would seem to me to really important times to use jargon for precision and accuracy. Particularly legal issues that deal with perpetuity.

Yes, there are times when removing jargon can help clarify. But a well written piece can help define a term, and use it in context, and respect the reader's intelligence.

I think attempting to remove jargon can end up going the same path as over editing -- removing all meaning.

Thoughts?