Learnings
Download Issue #001: Learnings
I’m not a language purist, nor do I propose that language be static, but there are certain terms which are commonly used which irk me, I must admit that I cannot always identify exactly why these terms bother me, but they do, and to get it off my chest, here is just one of them.
Learnings
I started hearing this term used extensively when I started teaching at the Tata-Dhan Academy. Typically, the term was used as a substitute for “lessons” or—less frequently, but still observable—“inferences.” So, for example, after visiting the field, we (students and faculty) would return and share our “learnings.” Ugh. Even writing the term makes me cringe.
Unfortunately, my students are not to blame, because I’m sure that if I were to survey my fellow colleagues, based on the statistical frequency of usage, I would guess that I would be the only who really objects to using the word.
What makes matters worse is that, since “learnings” isn’t really a word, most spell-check options flag the word as an error, and suggest, instead, the contraction “learning’s.” My estimate is that half of my students simply click on “replace” when that option is given rather than actually thinking about what “learning’s” is compared to what they want to say.
So, what do I suggest? I won’t give a full list of how to fix your writing, but here are some examples of changes that can be made. Instead of asking “What were your learnings?” you could ask, “What did you learn?” Instead of asking “What are the learnings from this activity?” you could ask, “What are the lessons from this activity?” (Or, if it was something that could be inferred, you could ask “What inferences can be made from this activity?”) Instead of saying “My learnings were xyz.” you could say “I found out xyz,” “I learned xyz,” “I could understand that xyz,” and a whole lot of other similar (more accurate) verbs can be used.
Having read this, I sure hope you’ve learned something new.
“The Learnings of the Elders were passed down to the next generation.”
The wisdom of the elders were passed down to the next generation.
Ananda,
Its useful to me. Expecting more such articles on the same line. More than language, I find some thing related to psychological pre-mind sets, which makes such common mistakes in our communication.
What about usage of the word “Sir” among us?
Janakiraman,
“Sir” is really a tough one to tackle.
One thing that I find funny is that among my friends in the US, we call each other “Sir” in a friendly joking way, yet here, it comes off as very submissive…
Oh, and I forgot to mention…. One of my students, deciding to do some research on the subject, found a post by Jeffrey McManus titled “Learnings” Is A Stupid, Stupid Word. It’s pretty fun to read the many comments for his simple post. Check it out here: http://blog.jeffreymcmanus.com/157/learnings-is-a-stupid-stupid-word/
What really confuse me is that even the native English speakers also use this said word as a real word. I heard that it is commonly use by the United States MBAs. Although I loath the use of this word, I it thought would make some sense seeing the native users/speakers using it. However, I don’t mean to give my self excuse because of this.
Lim,
That’s the jargon world for you–but that’s even more reason to refrain from using it. What happens when “buzzwords” go out of fashion? Unless you’re on top of things, you might end up sounding like someone who’s out of touch with the present day.
There is someone among us in the Academy who has a prolific observation! He doesn’t let even a single activity pass under his nose without being noticed!
I try to do my part….
I figure that there is more than one way to teach someone something, particularly for those inquisitive enough.
Hey Mr. Grumpy!
“Come and argue with me” seems too challenging!
All I can point out that, whenever you come across someone saying something wrong grammatically, you move the conversation by saying “Right….”
I easily make out whenever you say “Right…”, there must has something wrong been said.
But challenges are good, right? (Sorry–I had you use “right” there.)
That’s an interesting observation about my behavior. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I’ll try to be more aware and see how true it is. If it is true, my guess is that I tend to use “right” as a buffer for myself–a moment to try to think of some good examples that I can use to explain my point.