Did you know this? Edna Parker (born April 20, 1893) is an American supercentenarian and the oldest recognized person in the world following the death of Yone Minagawa of Japan on August 13, 2007.

What caught my attention was that elsewhere she was referred to as "the oldest living person." Is there any other kind?

Reminds me of the number of times I've said "in the Year 2000" yet I never say "in the year 2001." Do you?

Words matter! Yet jargon and phrases get memorized and repeated and institutionalized. Perhaps I notice jargon slips like these more than others; I hear jargon from other industries every week in training classes. I know the jargon of enterprise software and consumer electronics but not necessarily the jargon of banking, medicine, or semiconductor. So when I hear phrases that are odd to my ear, I notice.

It's okay to speak in jargon--if the listener knows the jargon. But words matter. Let's not waste them on gobbledygook.