Insider’s Prestige

Have you ever noticed the phenomenon of middle-class suburban kids who adopt the language of urban street gangs?

Some linguists refer to this as subversive prestige. It makes them feel cool or tough, as if it elevates them somehow.

Here is what you should understand – logic makes you think; emotions make you act. This language is incredibly emotional.

How can you incorporate this idea of subversive prestige into your persuasion process?

Well, every industry I’ve ever encountered has its own jargon. And when you use that vocabulary, correctly, you communicate that you are in the know, and that you have knowledge of how that company or how that industry works.

Insurance people speak of captives, floaters, and churn. Computer professionals talk of authentication, solutions, route directories. Well, it is not as cool as, maybe, some other language, but you get the idea.

I call this gaining not subversive prestige but insider’s prestige, a demonstration that you know a bit of how things work on the inside. And this is just one way that you can use language to accelerate your persuasion success, and hear “yes” more often.