Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

If you go into a bar any night of the week and listen in to some of the conversations going on, odds are you’ll struggle to understand what is being talked about. This isn’t only a cultural phenomenon, but one that spreads across the workplace.

Whether it’s slang, terms used by communities or subject matter specific to a particular audience, almost everyone in the world is party to a multitude of social languages.

Take me for example. I work in PR, so words and phrases like photocall, press release or pitch are commonplace. My friends and I talk in a weird form of sarcasm, where we mean pretty much the opposite of what we say. I use the Internet a lot and am familiar with terms like blogs and podcasts, as well as tech lingo/SMS speak like LOL or OMG.

When you’re trying to communicate with a particular audience, you should look at how they interact rather than just research their interests and demographics.

While it sounds a bit excessive, if you can talk their language then it’s a lot easier to get through to them. More importantly, there are a rising numbers of instances of such language making a crossover into the mainstream world. For example, w00t is number three in Merriam-Webster’s ‘What’s your favourite word (that’s not in the dictionary)?’ contest (courtesy of Slashdot)

So listen up Holmes and get with da lingo! You dig? (God, I’m so white )