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 247 goon 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’.

The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins. 2013.

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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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