This study investigates how the general public interprets commonly used business performance language, focusing on key terms such as “efficiency”, “KPI”, and “Success”. Despite the increasing visibility of strategic communication in public domains, there remains a significant gap between how organizations frame performance narratives and how lay audiences understand them. Using a structures questionnaire distributed to 120 respondents, the research employs chi-square tests and Pearson’s correlation analysis to assess the influence of demographic factors and perceptual preferences on language comprehension. The findings reveal statistically significant associations between variables such as education level, occupation, and gender with perceptions of business success, preferred communication formats, and strategic term awareness. Notably, a strong public preference for simpler terminology and frustration with buzzwords overuse emerged, indicating growing resistance to opaque or exaggerated language. The study concludes that public understanding is not merely a matter of exposure, but of linguistic accessibility and contextual clarity. These insights underscore the urgent need for businesses and policymakers to adopt inclusive, audience-sensitive communication practices that bridge the cognitive gap between strategy formulation and public interpretation.