here be dragons

But I think that, much like Therapy Speak and its cutesy friends neurospicy and neurosparkly, words that might be useful for describing your own life can become cliché annoying jargon when someone else starts applying them to your experiences for you.

there is no inherent “bond” that is created between people from having unprotected sex

They mean different things! It's a useful term when you use it to mean what it actually means!

e.g. below the cut.

Casual conversations with people you barely know are a strange place for it, whether it's asking them if they're fluid bonded to someone or telling them that they violated your boundaries with your phone use by calling you after work hours.

From my experience in poly spaces, queer kink spaces, and in jargon-heavy technical and academic work places, I think jargon is better described as convenient shorthand, for those familiar with it. It can be specific when used in explicitly specific contexts, but it's usually less so, especially as terms spread outside the original group using it, which will happen because that's language (hello AAVE to "hip slang" pipeline). I understand being annoyed when people use terms outside of the context where they hold specific meaning, without intention or forethought. But your post and the discussion above didn't say that, and what you did say reads like you and others are making some big assumptions about why people use the words they do.

I often interact with people who would be frustrated by my use of trans and cis -- terms which I don't think are jargon but which a lot of people around me who aren't queer or informed about LGBTQ topics do. I try to use shorthand terms sparingly and will usually ask folks if they're familiar with a term I think is jargony and will use more specific, usually lengthier language if they're not. The same as I would for any word or language someone might not know. When I do use jargon, you wouldn't know for sure if I'm using it because I'm steeped in that culture and unaware of its specificity to that context, or for reasons you'd approve of. I don't personally care if you're aware of the reasons I'd use jargon or approve of them yourself. If I use jargon, intentionally or not, and someone judges me as annoying because they think I'm signaling belonging to a group or trying to appear smart instead of asking me for clarification or expressing curiosity as to why I used that term, then I'm glad it's off-putting, because that's not the type of aquaintance I'd want to develop a further relationship with.

That said, on signaling being in a group, specifically in poly, kink, or queer contexts: If someone says they're poly, kinky, or queer and doesn't know terms people in those spaces use or is annoyed by them and judges rather than seeking common understanding, it's an indicator that they might be new to the scene and its concepts, or that they maybe haven't interacted with community spaces at all, or they have made a judgement of a word used by a group of people or the group itself. Not inherently bad things, but I'd want to know more before putting myself out there and spending my energy getting to know them. Additionally, these are groups for which not being in the group can signal you are a threat to life or livelihood. Jargon can be a good first-pass litmus test as to how a person will treat me and communicate with me, especially if it prompts curiousity vs annoyance. Is someone trying to join me, or are they judging me by the language I use?

Jargon can be used in inappropriate contexts and can be annoyingly vague or obtuse but it has a place in language and your post and the exchanges above read like you just got squicked out by your interpretation of "fluid-bonded," or rightfully annoyed by an acquaintance asking you an invasive and unclear question, OP. Or if I'm not being generous, you got annoyed that you came across a word you were unfamiliar with and that annoyance reaffirmed your opinion of the people that use it. I see it everywhere -- "poly people are obnoxious/doing too much/expect us *normal* people to use *their* annoying words." People get annoyed when others don't code switch and make snap judgements based on that feeling, and I wish they'd get curious instead.

words that might be useful for describing your own life can become cliché annoying jargon when someone else starts applying them to your experiences for you.

Also, stay away from children.

i have no idea what could have prompted you to send this in the first place, but i have never used the words "ick" or "icked out" to describe either child porn or discourse about uncomfortable topics in fiction, because i am, as you said, a fucking adult. you have absolutely no business or good intent making up a guy to get mad at and putting their words in my mouth about something as serious as the abuse and exploitation of real life human beings.

since you brought it up, my problem with "proship" (and its counterpart "anti") as a concept is that it's frequently falsely equated with "child porn" in order to intensify people's reactions by manipulating their disgust response, as it is in your ask, which does nothing except obfuscate a serious issue that affects real people and sideline real safety and human rights concerns in favour of more palatable, victimless fictional ones, which helps absolutely no one.

BISEXUALS GROW FROM THE GROUND