The word "gobbledygook" is a bit of a mouthful, both in its spelling and pronunciation. It is spelled with a double "b" and a triple "o" to emphasize the gobbling sound of the word. The phonetic transcription for this word is /ˈɡɑbəldiˌɡʊk/, where the emphasis is on the second syllable, and the "g" sound is pronounced like a hard "k". The term is often used to describe confusing or meaningless language, and it certainly lives up to its own name in terms of spelling and pronunciation.
Gobbledygook is a noun that refers to language, speech, or writing that is unclear, confused, meaningless, or difficult to understand, often due to excessive use of technical terms, jargon, or convoluted sentence structures. It is characterized by an excessive amount of complex, pretentious, or meaningless verbiage that obfuscates the intended meaning or purpose of the message.
This term is commonly used to describe bureaucratic or official language, advertising copy, or political speeches that are intentionally vague or designed to sound impressive without actually conveying any meaningful information. Gobbledygook can create confusion, frustration, and a sense of exclusion among its intended audience, as it fails to effectively communicate ideas or instructions.
The term "gobbledygook" is believed to have originated in the 1940s from the sound made by turkeys when they gobble, reflecting the nonsensical or meaningless nature of the language described. It is often used in a critical or derogatory manner to mock or criticize the use of unnecessarily complex or vague language.
In summary, gobbledygook refers to incomprehensible or confusing language that is characterized by an overuse of technical terms, jargon, or unnecessarily complex sentence structures. It is often used to criticize the obfuscation or lack of clarity in various forms of communication.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "gobbledygook" was coined in 1944 by Maury Maverick, a former U.S. Congressman and administrator of the Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II. The term was created in a memo that Maverick wrote to his staff, criticizing the obscure and pretentious language often used in bureaucratic and official writing.
The word is said to be a combination of two terms: "gobble" and "gook". "Gobble" suggests the sound of someone quickly and unintelligibly gobbling up food, relating to the meaningless and confusing nature of the language being criticized. "Gook" was a slang term used by American soldiers during World War II to refer to people who spoke in a language they couldn't understand, particularly referring to the Asian languages.