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Gibberish

January 01, 1970

For other uses, see Gibberish (disambiguation).
"Gobbledigook" redirects here. For the Sigur Rós song, see Gobbledigook (song).

Gibberish, also known as jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense: ranging across speech sounds that are not actual words,[1] pseudowords, language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsiders.[2]

"Gibberish" is also used as an imprecation to denigrate or tar ideas or opinions the user disagrees with or finds irksome, a rough equivalent of "nonsense", "folderol", "balderdash", or "claptrap". The implication is that the criticized expression or proposition lacks substance or congruence, as opposed to being a differing view.

The related word jibber-jabber refers to rapid talk that is difficult to understand.[3]

Etymology edit

The etymology of gibberish is uncertain. The term was first seen in English in the early 16th century.[4] It is generally thought to be an onomatopoeia imitative of speech, similar to the words jabber (to talk rapidly) and gibber (to speak inarticulately).[5][6]

It may originate from the word jib, which is the Angloromani variant of the Romani language word meaning "language" or "tongue". To non-speakers, the Anglo-Romany dialect could sound like English mixed with nonsense words, and if those seemingly nonsensical words are referred to as jib then the term gibberish could be derived as a descriptor for nonsensical speech.[7]

Samuel Johnson, in A Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755, wrote that the word gibberish "is probably derived from the chymical cant, and originally implied the jargon of Geber and his tribe." The theory was that gibberish came from the name of a famous 8th century Muslim alchemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān, whose name was Latinized as Geber. Thus, gibberish was a reference to the incomprehensible technical jargon and allegorical coded language used by Jabir and other alchemists.[8][9][10][11] After 1818, editors of Johnson's Dictionary rejected that origin theory.[12]

A discredited alternative theory asserts that it is derived from the Irish word gob or gab ("mouth")[13] or from the Irish phrase Geab ar ais ("back talk, backward chat").[14] The latter Irish etymology was suggested by Daniel Cassidy, whose work has been criticised by linguists and scholars.[15][16][17] The terms geab and geabaire are certainly Irish words, but the phrase geab ar ais does not exist, and the word gibberish exists as a loan-word in Irish as gibiris.[18]

The term gobbledygook was coined by Maury Maverick, a former congressman from Texas and former mayor of San Antonio.[19] When Maverick was chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II, he sent a memorandum that said: "Be short and use plain English. ... Stay off gobbledygook language."[20][21] Maverick defined gobbledygook as "talk or writing which is long, pompous, vague, involved, usually with Latinized words." The allusion was to a turkey, "always gobbledygobbling and strutting with ridiculous pomposity."[22][23]

Use edit

Gobbledygook edit

The term "gobbledygook" has a long history of use in politics to deride deliberately obscure statements and complicated but ineffective explanations. The following are a few examples:

  • Richard Nixon's Oval Office tape from June 14, 1971, showed H. R. Haldeman describing a situation to Nixon as "... a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: You can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say."[24]
  • President Ronald Reagan explained tax law revisions in an address to the nation with the word, May 28, 1985, saying that "most didn’t improve the system; they made it more like Washington itself: Complicated, unfair, cluttered with gobbledygook and loopholes, designed for those with the power and influence to hire high-priced legal and tax advisers."[25]
  • Michael Shanks, former chairman to the National Consumer Council of Great Britain, characterized professional gobbledygook as sloppy jargon intended to confuse nonspecialists: "'Gobbledygook' may indicate a failure to think clearly, a contempt for one's clients, or more probably a mixture of both. A system that can't or won't communicate is not a safe basis for a democracy."[27][unreliable source?]

In acting edit

Using gibberish whilst acting can be used as an improvisation exercise in theatre arts education.[28]

In song edit

The Italian musical artist Adriano Celentano wrote and performed the song "Prisencolinensinainciusol" in gibberish as an intentional mimic of the sound of English to those who are not fluent in the language.

Other terms and usage edit

Further information: Officialese and Legalese

The terms officialese or bureaucratese refer to language used by officials or authorities. Legalese is a closely related concept, referring to language used by lawyers, legislators, and others involved with the law. The language used in these fields may contain complex sentences and specialized jargon or buzzwords, making it difficult for those outside the field to understand.[29] Speakers or writers of officialese or legalese may recognize that it is confusing or even meaningless to outsiders, but view its use as appropriate within their organization or group.[30]

Bafflegab is a synonym, a slang term referring to confusing or a generally unintelligible use of jargon.[31]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Robertson, J.P.S.; Shamsie, S.J. (1959). "A systematic examination of gibberish in a multilingual schizophrenic patient". Language and Speech. 2 (1). Sage: 1–8. doi:10.1177/002383095900200102. S2CID 142914934. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  2. ^ Laycock, D. (1972). "Towards a typology of ludlings, or play-languages". Linguistic Communications: Working Papers of the Linguistic Society of Australia. 6: 61–113.
  3. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A. (2010). "jibber-jabber". New Oxford American Dictionary. Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 978-0-19-539288-3.
  4. ^ Chantrell, Glynnis (2002). The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 231. ISBN 0-19-863121-9.
  5. ^ "gibberish". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2013.
  6. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  7. ^ Leland, Charles G. (1873). The English Gipsies and Their Language. New York: Hurd and Houghton. p. 88. If the word gibberish was, as has been asserted, first applied to the language of the Gipsies, it may have been derived either from "Gip," the nickname for Gipsy, with ish or rish appended as in Engl-ish, I-rish, or from the Rommany word jib signifying a language. . . . Writers on such subjects err, almost without an exception, in insisting on one accurately defined and singly derived source for every word, when perhaps three or four have combined to form it. . . . Gibberish may have come from the Gipsy, and at the same time owe something to gabble, jabber, and the old Norse or Icelandic gifra.
  8. ^ Seaborg, Glenn T. (March 1980). "Our heritage of the elements". Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B. 11 (1). Springer Boston: 5–19. Bibcode:1980MTB....11....5S. doi:10.1007/bf02657166. S2CID 137614510.
  9. ^ Jack, Albert (2011). . London, UK: Random House UK. ISBN 978-1847946690. Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
  10. ^ Quinion, Michael (3 Oct 2015). "Gibberish". World Wide Words. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  11. ^ Amr, Samir S.; Tbakhi, Abdelghani (2007). "Jabir ibn Hayyan". Annals of Saudi Medicine. 27 (1): 52–53. doi:10.5144/0256-4947.2007.53. PMC 6077026.
  12. ^ Kolb, Gwin J.; Demaria, Robert Jr. (1998). "Dr. Johnson's etymology of 'gibberish'". The Free Library. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 15 July 2021. This remark was apparently repeated in all the unabridged versions of Johnson's Dictionary until 1818, when H. J. Todd published his revised edition of the work. Under the entry for gibberish, Todd records 'Dr. Johnson's' comments on the word's etymology and then offers evidence differing from Johnson's surmise and none supporting it.
  13. ^ Mackay, Charles (1887). A Glossary of Obscure Words and Phrases in the Writings of Shakspeare and his contemporaries Traced Etymologically to the ancient language of the British people as spoken before the irruption of the Danes and Saxons. S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington. pp. 183–184. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  14. ^ Cassidy, Daniel (2007). "A Dictionary of Irish-American Vernacular". How the Irish Invented Slang: The secret language of the crossroads. CounterPunch. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-1-904859-60-4.
  15. ^ Brady, Michael Patrick (17 October 2007). "How the Irish Invented Slang". PopMatters. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  16. ^ Barrett, Grant (9 November 2007). . Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  17. ^ Zwicky, Arnold (9 November 2007). "Gullibility in high places". Language Log. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  18. ^ Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla. An Gúm. 1992. p. 630. ISBN 978-1-85791-037-7.
  19. ^ Maverick and Gobbledygook (minicast) (audio). A Way with Words. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  20. ^ Maverick, Maury (24 March 1944). . The National Archives Catalog. US National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016. Subject: Lengthy memoranda and gobbledygook language. Be short and use plain English.
  21. ^ "Gobbledygook? Lay off it, Maverick says". Pittsburgh Press. 31 March 1944. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  22. ^ Maverick, Maury (21 May 1944). "The case against 'Gobbledygook'". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 January 2016. People asked me how I got the word. I do not know. It must have come in a vision. Perhaps I was thinking of the old bearded turkey gobbler back in Texas who was always gobbledygobbling and strutting with ridiculous pomposity. At the end of his gobble there was a sort of gook.
  23. ^ Gartner, Michael (26 May 1985). "Gobbledygood". Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved 4 February 2014.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ Wheen, Francis (2010). Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia. Public Affairs. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0-00-744120-4.
  25. ^ . Bartleby.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008.
  26. ^ Roeder, Oliver (17 October 2017). "The Supreme Court is allergic to math". FiveThirtyEight.
  27. ^ "Contemporary Quotes". Chat11.com. October 2007. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  28. ^ Spolin, Viola (1999). Improvisation for the Theater: A handbook of teaching and directing techniques (3rd ed.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. p. 112. ISBN 0810140098.
  29. ^ Garner, Bryan A. (2009). Garner on Language and Writing. American Bar Association. ISBN 978-1-61632-679-1. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  30. ^ Czarniawska, Barbara (1997). Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-13229-7. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  31. ^ "bafflegab". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 4 February 2014.

External links edit

 
Look up gibberish, gobbledygook, or jibber-jabber in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  • A statistical gibberish generator based on Markov chains
  • The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology
  • Gibberish - World Wide Words

January 01, 1970
gibberish, other, uses, disambiguation, gobbledigook, redirects, here, sigur, rós, song, gobbledigook, song, also, known, jibber, jabber, gobbledygook, speech, that, appears, nonsense, ranging, across, speech, sounds, that, actual, words, pseudowords, language. For other uses see Gibberish disambiguation Gobbledigook redirects here For the Sigur Ros song see Gobbledigook song Gibberish also known as jibber jabber or gobbledygook is speech that is or appears to be nonsense ranging across speech sounds that are not actual words 1 pseudowords language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsiders 2 Gibberish is also used as an imprecation to denigrate or tar ideas or opinions the user disagrees with or finds irksome a rough equivalent of nonsense folderol balderdash or claptrap The implication is that the criticized expression or proposition lacks substance or congruence as opposed to being a differing view The related word jibber jabber refers to rapid talk that is difficult to understand 3 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Use 2 1 Gobbledygook 2 2 In acting 2 3 In song 3 Other terms and usage 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksEtymology editThe etymology of gibberish is uncertain The term was first seen in English in the early 16th century 4 It is generally thought to be an onomatopoeia imitative of speech similar to the words jabber to talk rapidly and gibber to speak inarticulately 5 6 It may originate from the word jib which is the Angloromani variant of the Romani language word meaning language or tongue To non speakers the Anglo Romany dialect could sound like English mixed with nonsense words and if those seemingly nonsensical words are referred to as jib then the term gibberish could be derived as a descriptor for nonsensical speech 7 Samuel Johnson in A Dictionary of the English Language published in 1755 wrote that the word gibberish is probably derived from the chymical cant and originally implied the jargon of Geber and his tribe The theory was that gibberish came from the name of a famous 8th century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan whose name was Latinized as Geber Thus gibberish was a reference to the incomprehensible technical jargon and allegorical coded language used by Jabir and other alchemists 8 9 10 11 After 1818 editors of Johnson s Dictionary rejected that origin theory 12 A discredited alternative theory asserts that it is derived from the Irish word gob or gab mouth 13 or from the Irish phrase Geab ar ais back talk backward chat 14 The latter Irish etymology was suggested by Daniel Cassidy whose work has been criticised by linguists and scholars 15 16 17 The terms geab and geabaire are certainly Irish words but the phrase geab ar ais does not exist and the word gibberish exists as a loan word in Irish as gibiris 18 The term gobbledygook was coined by Maury Maverick a former congressman from Texas and former mayor of San Antonio 19 When Maverick was chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II he sent a memorandum that said Be short and use plain English Stay off gobbledygook language 20 21 Maverick defined gobbledygook as talk or writing which is long pompous vague involved usually with Latinized words The allusion was to a turkey always gobbledygobbling and strutting with ridiculous pomposity 22 23 Use editGobbledygook edit The term gobbledygook has a long history of use in politics to deride deliberately obscure statements and complicated but ineffective explanations The following are a few examples Richard Nixon s Oval Office tape from June 14 1971 showed H R Haldeman describing a situation to Nixon as a bunch of gobbledygook But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing You can t trust the government you can t believe what they say 24 President Ronald Reagan explained tax law revisions in an address to the nation with the word May 28 1985 saying that most didn t improve the system they made it more like Washington itself Complicated unfair cluttered with gobbledygook and loopholes designed for those with the power and influence to hire high priced legal and tax advisers 25 Supreme Court of the United States justice John Roberts dismissed quantitative sociological reasoning as gobbledygook in 2017 when arguing against using any mathematical test for gerrymandering 26 Michael Shanks former chairman to the National Consumer Council of Great Britain characterized professional gobbledygook as sloppy jargon intended to confuse nonspecialists Gobbledygook may indicate a failure to think clearly a contempt for one s clients or more probably a mixture of both A system that can t or won t communicate is not a safe basis for a democracy 27 unreliable source In acting edit Using gibberish whilst acting can be used as an improvisation exercise in theatre arts education 28 In song edit The Italian musical artist Adriano Celentano wrote and performed the song Prisencolinensinainciusol in gibberish as an intentional mimic of the sound of English to those who are not fluent in the language Other terms and usage editFurther information Officialese and Legalese The terms officialese or bureaucratese refer to language used by officials or authorities Legalese is a closely related concept referring to language used by lawyers legislators and others involved with the law The language used in these fields may contain complex sentences and specialized jargon or buzzwords making it difficult for those outside the field to understand 29 Speakers or writers of officialese or legalese may recognize that it is confusing or even meaningless to outsiders but view its use as appropriate within their organization or group 30 Bafflegab is a synonym a slang term referring to confusing or a generally unintelligible use of jargon 31 See also editBabbling Code switching Double talk Glossolalia Grammelot Jargon Minionese Mumbo jumbo phrase Nonsense Nonsense word Pig Latin Prisencolinensinainciusol Onomatopoeia Lorem ipsum Scat singing Simlish SMOG Spin propaganda Stanley Unwin comedian Technobabble Walla Word saladReferences edit Robertson J P S Shamsie S J 1959 A systematic examination of gibberish in a multilingual schizophrenic patient Language and Speech 2 1 Sage 1 8 doi 10 1177 002383095900200102 S2CID 142914934 Archived from the original on February 2 2013 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Laycock D 1972 Towards a typology of ludlings or play languages Linguistic Communications Working Papers of the Linguistic Society of Australia 6 61 113 Stevenson Angus Lindberg Christine A 2010 jibber jabber New Oxford American Dictionary Oxford University Press USA ISBN 978 0 19 539288 3 Chantrell Glynnis 2002 The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories Oxford UK Oxford University Press pp 231 ISBN 0 19 863121 9 gibberish Oxford English Dictionary online ed Oxford University Press 2013 Online Etymology Dictionary Retrieved 6 February 2014 Leland Charles G 1873 The English Gipsies and Their Language New York Hurd and Houghton p 88 If the word gibberish was as has been asserted first applied to the language of the Gipsies it may have been derived either from Gip the nickname for Gipsy with ish or rish appended as in Engl ish I rish or from the Rommany word jib signifying a language Writers on such subjects err almost without an exception in insisting on one accurately defined and singly derived source for every word when perhaps three or four have combined to form it Gibberish may have come from the Gipsy and at the same time owe something to gabble jabber and the old Norse or Icelandic gifra Seaborg Glenn T March 1980 Our heritage of the elements Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B 11 1 Springer Boston 5 19 Bibcode 1980MTB 11 5S doi 10 1007 bf02657166 S2CID 137614510 Jack Albert 2011 It s a Wonderful Word The Real Origins of Our Favourite Words London UK Random House UK ISBN 978 1847946690 Archived from the original on 2015 07 01 Retrieved 2015 06 28 Quinion Michael 3 Oct 2015 Gibberish World Wide Words Retrieved 20 January 2016 Amr Samir S Tbakhi Abdelghani 2007 Jabir ibn Hayyan Annals of Saudi Medicine 27 1 52 53 doi 10 5144 0256 4947 2007 53 PMC 6077026 Kolb Gwin J Demaria Robert Jr 1998 Dr Johnson s etymology of gibberish The Free Library Oxford University Press Retrieved 15 July 2021 This remark was apparently repeated in all the unabridged versions of Johnson s Dictionary until 1818 when H J Todd published his revised edition of the work Under the entry for gibberish Todd records Dr Johnson s comments on the word s etymology and then offers evidence differing from Johnson s surmise and none supporting it Mackay Charles 1887 A Glossary of Obscure Words and Phrases in the Writings of Shakspeare and his contemporaries Traced Etymologically to the ancient language of the British people as spoken before the irruption of the Danes and Saxons S Low Marston Searle and Rivington pp 183 184 Retrieved 5 February 2014 Cassidy Daniel 2007 A Dictionary of Irish American Vernacular How the Irish Invented Slang The secret language of the crossroads CounterPunch pp 155 156 ISBN 978 1 904859 60 4 Brady Michael Patrick 17 October 2007 How the Irish Invented Slang PopMatters Retrieved 24 March 2014 Barrett Grant 9 November 2007 Humdinger of a Bad Irish Scholar Archived from the original on 2013 09 27 Retrieved 2014 03 24 Zwicky Arnold 9 November 2007 Gullibility in high places Language Log Retrieved 24 March 2014 Focloir Gaeilge Bearla An Gum 1992 p 630 ISBN 978 1 85791 037 7 Maverick and Gobbledygook minicast audio A Way with Words Retrieved 28 January 2017 Maverick Maury 24 March 1944 Memorandum from Maury Maverick to Everybody in Smaller War Plants Corporation The National Archives Catalog US National Archives and Records Administration Archived from the original on 6 May 2016 Retrieved 21 January 2016 Subject Lengthy memoranda and gobbledygook language Be short and use plain English Gobbledygook Lay off it Maverick says Pittsburgh Press 31 March 1944 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Maverick Maury 21 May 1944 The case against Gobbledygook The New York Times Retrieved 20 January 2016 People asked me how I got the word I do not know It must have come in a vision Perhaps I was thinking of the old bearded turkey gobbler back in Texas who was always gobbledygobbling and strutting with ridiculous pomposity At the end of his gobble there was a sort of gook Gartner Michael 26 May 1985 Gobbledygood Milwaukee Journal Retrieved 4 February 2014 permanent dead link Wheen Francis 2010 Strange Days Indeed The Golden Age of Paranoia Public Affairs pp 11 12 ISBN 978 0 00 744120 4 Simpson s contemporary quotations Bartleby com Archived from the original on 7 December 2008 Roeder Oliver 17 October 2017 The Supreme Court is allergic to math FiveThirtyEight Contemporary Quotes Chat11 com October 2007 Archived from the original on 23 July 2012 Retrieved 4 February 2014 Spolin Viola 1999 Improvisation for the Theater A handbook of teaching and directing techniques 3rd ed Evanston IL Northwestern University Press p 112 ISBN 0810140098 Garner Bryan A 2009 Garner on Language and Writing American Bar Association ISBN 978 1 61632 679 1 Retrieved 11 February 2014 Czarniawska Barbara 1997 Narrating the Organization Dramas of Institutional Identity University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 13229 7 Retrieved 11 February 2014 bafflegab Dictionary com Retrieved 4 February 2014 External links edit nbsp Look up gibberish gobbledygook or jibber jabber in Wiktionary the free dictionary A statistical gibberish generator based on Markov chains The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology Gibberish World Wide Words Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gibberish amp oldid 1224426688, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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