This morning I dropped into Starbucks for a non-fat GRTL (Green Tea Latte). Vicariously I’m learning what one Barista called Starbonics, the tribal language of Starbucks. Tribal languages abound in every organization. To communicate effectively within any group it is important to pick-up their language. The development of a tribal language is a natural and critical element that builds cohesion between members. In some cases it facilitates higher thinking, in others more efficient processes, such as the case at Starbucks.
Some folks say, "I’m not good at learning languages." Often their experience with formal study of a foreign language resulted in a frustrating and intimidating experience. Truth is everyone learns multiple languages throughout their life. Here are just a few of the languages I speak:
- Geek Speak: Seen the bumper sticker "There’s no place like 127.0.0.1"? The default IP (Internet Protocol) address for every machine is 127.0.0.1 which is the home address.
- Design Terminology: Publishing text in a graphic from Photoshop is often kludgy (kludge meaning something is crude or inelegant). Text is more pristine when exported from a vector format such as .eps.
- Texan: Hi ya’ll.
The list goes on. Other languages I "speak": web developer, Engineering, Christianese, Higher-Ed, Austinisms, Marketing, business… and of course various standard spoken languages such as English, Spanish, Turkish and bits of Hebraic, Arabic, and Italian.
Think about all the life experience one gains over decades. With each job, each place you lived, each area of study, the first thing to pick-up is the language, the coding system for communication. Learning the right terminology is critical for success. How many tribal languages do you know? How many do you use from day-to-day? What tricks have you found in your station in life to pick-up new terminology?

