What Is Jargonation?
Every discipline has its own language — lingo specific to the field. Taken out of context, these terms become clever attributes of those who embrace them.
Jargonation matches discipline-specific jargon with distinct personality types to create witty wearables for experts, academics & enthusiasts of all types. Our first line features Grrrrammar Dog — a hound for nouns, a mutt for modifiers, a punctuation pup.
The Jargonation Story
It happened as it often does — in a bar — but not just any bar, the Shadow Lounge in Pittsburgh, which hosts the city's most creative and unique collaborations of words and music: this night, a last-minute spoken performance tour featuring Derrick Brown (opening artist for The White Stripes; Cold War Kids), Andrea Gibson (Slam Champion, Pushcart Prize Nominee), Buddy Wakefield (two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, opener and Artist for Ani Difranco/Righteous Babe Records) and an opening performance by our own Pittsburgh spoken word powerhouse, Brian Francis.
Being writers, Don Bertschman (my heart/life/soul/conscious partner) and I (Leslie Anne Mcilroy) ordered a drink, and apropo of nothing, contemplated what part of speech best defined the people we knew. My mother was definitely a run-on sentence. I was sure I was a double negative. Then Don said, "Wouldn't that be funny? Just that on a t-shirt?"
Yes. Yes. Yes.
It was a fabulous show and an idea with teeth.
A Dogged Year
That was September 29, 2009. By January 2010, Jargonation, LLC was formed and the trademarking begun. Grrrrammar Dog — an original picture entitled "Dizzy Dog" first drawn by my beautiful daughter Silas — was versioned into a logo by my talented friend, Lisa Foltyn, and I began working on the website.
With the help of web programmer Brian Dipert from Vector Studios, the shopping cart was laboriously installed. My brother, Dan McIlroy of ProAdSpec quoted me prices on printing and shipping, and Grrrrammar Dog got busy writing close to thirty personality profiles for a wide varity of grammar terms, eight of which appear as our innaugural shirts. Needless to say, there's lots more to come, and a vision of other Jargonation lines as well (Silas is concepting new logos as we speak).
A New Breed of Business …
As we begin building relationships with people like you who love words and wit, we are also working to establish a giving program so a percentage of our profits/your purchase benefit the arts and human/animal welfare — anything from Pittsburgh's Homeless Children's Education Fund, and American Humane to the YaYa Arts Program in New Orleans and literacry/reading/writing programs everywhere.
This is more than a pet interest, it is a purpose.
To begin with, 5% of each t-shirt you buy will be placed in a separate account to be donated to an established or promising nonprofit devoted to bettering the world through artistic enrichment and the improved quality of life of all living creatures (we love animals almost as much as we love people). We hope to increase this percentage as we grow and to provide you with the opportunity to choose where your contribution is directed.
Jargonation believes in the power of art to speak truth and change lives — we put our money on it — and thank you for helping us make a difference.
We hope you love your dog!
Grrrrammar Dog — Great statements. Great Gifts. Grrrreat fun!