Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable. It gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, if stated directly, would seem superficial, stale, frivolous, or false. The line between serious and spurious scholarship is an easy one to blur, with jargon on your side.


Signs of the Times (1991)

David Lehman Quotes

Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable. It gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, ...

Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable. It gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, ...

Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable. It gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, ...

Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable. It gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, ...