gobbledegook

gobbledegook
\ \ [20] This word for pretentious or obfuscatory verbiage was the invention, in the 1940s, of Maury Maverick, Texan lawyer, chairman of the US Smaller War Plants Corporation and a descendant of the Samuel A.
\ \ Maverick who gave English the word maverick.
\ \ His explanation of its genesis, that it was probably suggested by ‘the old bearded turkey gobbler back in Texas, who was always gobbledy-gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity’, stikes a disingenuous note in the light of the previously existing US slang phrase gobble the goo, meaning ‘perform fellatio’.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • gobbledegook — 1. The term, though not the concept, was unknown to Fowler (1926); Gowers (1965) knew it, but like Fowler put his material in an entry called jargon. Gobbledegook (or gobbledygook) is the extensive use of unintelligible jargon in printed… …   Modern English usage

  • gobbledegook — gobbledegook, gobbledygook gobbledygook . The incomprehensible or pompous jargon of specialists; as, psychoanalytic gobbledygook. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • gobbledegook — UK / US or gobbledygook UK [ˈɡɒb(ə)ldɪˌɡuːk] / US [ˈɡɑb(ə)ldɪˌɡuk] noun [uncountable] informal 1) very complicated or technical language that you cannot understand 2) nonsense …   English dictionary

  • gobbledegook — (also gobbledygook) ► NOUN informal ▪ pompous or unintelligible jargon. ORIGIN probably imitating a turkey s gobble …   English terms dictionary

  • gobbledegook — /gob euhl dee gook /, n. language characterized by circumlocution and jargon, usually hard to understand: the gobbledegook of government reports. Also, gobbledygook. [1940 45; fanciful formation from GOBBLE2] Syn. gibberish, doubletalk, bosh,… …   Universalium

  • gobbledegook — Conglomerate, often trash. Inconsequential, incomprehensible. Your essay was gobbledegook, almost as if you pasted it up randomly from invented words …   Dictionary of american slang

  • gobbledegook — Conglomerate, often trash. Inconsequential, incomprehensible. Your essay was gobbledegook, almost as if you pasted it up randomly from invented words …   Dictionary of american slang

  • gobbledegook — /ˈgɒbldiˌgʊk / (say gobldee.gook), / ˌguk/ (say .goohk) noun Colloquial 1. any utterance or writing that the listener or reader does not understand, usually because it is in a foreign language. 2. language characterised by circumlocution and… …  

  • gobbledegook — noun see gobbledygook …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • gobbledegook — Synonyms and related words: balderdash, bosh, bull, bullshit, bunk, circumlocution, crap, deception, deceptiveness, double talk, drivel, equivocation, eyewash, garbage, gibberish, gobbledygook, hogwash, humbug, jargon, malarkey, moonshine, mumbo… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Gobbledegook — written or spoken nonsense (originally US military slang (1940s) for red tape , from the earlier slang phrase gobble the goop to perform fellatio) …   Dictionary of Australian slang

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