On "Internetese"

A column in the Washington Post today about the language of the web world piqued my interest. I have some frustration with the whimsical nature of the "words" used in the industry. I responded to the columnist, Melissa Bell.  Here's the conversation that followed:

As an English major who ended up working in I.T., nothing frustrates me more than the dozens of completely made-up words I encounter daily.  Trying to complete basic tasks or read a short paper is an effort in discerning intangible, untranslatable words.  Learning anything new about programming requires a linguistic patience that is painful to summon.  It might be a heretic position, but I don't even like that programming languages are called "languages."

Response:

Brian, heretical or not, I'm glad to hear it. I think one of the major challenges in getting a newsroom to go digital is that people who build their careers around words have so much difficulty trying to comprehend the multitude of changing definitions and new words every day. Their frustration leads to an inability to embrace technology. I really do feel as if we need translators in the room sometime. Thanks for reading! Best, Melissa