Talking Like an Insider

Here are today’s Wonderful Words:

Evidently a certain amount of opaque insider talk is a professional imperative; indeed, without an inside and an outside you probably don’t have a profession.

A Place of My Own, Michael Pollan, page 231

Background

A Place of My Own is a book about Pollan—a writer—building himself a writing room on his property. This sentence refers to the architect saying he would send over an “S-K”, which apparently means “sketch” in architect speak.

What makes it wonderful?

I worked in consulting for a long time, so this sentence rang true to my core.

As my grandpa says, a consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is. If that’s your job, you’d better have some opaque language to make it sound like you’re doing something nobody else can do.

Believe me, we had some language.

We were ‘boots on the ground’ when clients had problems. We put things in ‘buckets’, never categories or groups. We would ‘circle back’ when clients asked questions we couldn’t answer. And we would ‘drill down’ when clients wanted more details.

But my favorite place to be in consulting was ‘on the bench.’ It means you’re still getting paid but don’t have any client work. It’s pretty sweet.

So I loved Pollan’s words because I was a consultant, but consulting is hardly the only industry with its own language.

My wife and her sister work in medicine. To hear them have a conversation is like watching a foreign flick without subtitles.

My brother is a surveyor. He speaks in measurements I never knew existed.

I have some friends who were in the Army. When they reminisce on their time leading troops, it sounds like they’re describing a made-up world from a movie—more forts and acronyms than I can keep straight.

Every profession has their opaque insider talk, and by highlighting his experience with architecture, Pollan reminds the reader of the opaque language in their own field. It’s a familiarity that draws us in and connects us to the story.

Let's get technical

I have to be honest. I don’t think there are any important literary elements or techniques in these wonderful words. But that’s a helpful reminder that we don’t need to be Hemingway or Steinbeck to craft wonderful writing.

Sometimes it’s as simple as putting words on the page that create a connection with your reader.

One of the commonalities I’ve found in the wonderful writing I share is that almost every passage is relatable. The best writers find a way to connect their stories with experiences we’ve all shared. If you can manage to infuse your writing with relatability, you’ll be on your way to writing wonderful words as well.

Happy writing,

Joe