gobbledygook

English

Alternative forms

• gobbledegook; gobblygook, garbley gook, gobbly-gook

Etymology

First attested in a memo by US Representative (Texas) Maury Maverick dated March 30, 1944, banning "gobbledygook language". Apparently coined in imitation of the sounds made by a turkey.

Mr. Maury Maverick was, incidentally, the grandson of lawyer and politician Samuel Maverick, whose behaviour regarding his cattle inspired the term maverick ("offbeat").

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

gobbledygook (usually uncountable, plural gobbledygooks)

1. (informal) Nonsense; meaningless or encrypted language.
2. (informal) Something written in an overly complex, incoherent, or incomprehensible manner.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:nonsense

Translations

nonsense; meaningless or encrypted language

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 天書／天书 (zh) (tiānshū)

• Czech: hatmatilka (cs) f
• Danish: bavl n, kaudervælsk (da) n, sludder n, vrøvl n
• Dutch: koeterwaals (nl) n
• Esperanto: galimatio
• Finnish: liirumlaarum (fi), diibadaaba (fi), hölynpöly (fi)
• French: charabia (fr) m, gloubi-boulga (fr) m
• German: Geschwafel (de) n, Kauderwelsch (de) n, Gibberisch n, Gromolo n
• Hungarian: halandzsa (hu), maszlag (hu), blabla (hu), hadova (hu), hablaty (hu)
• Italian: fesserie f pl, sciocchezze (it) f pl, supercazzola (it), idiozie (it) f pl
• Japanese: 珍紛漢紛 (chinpunkanpun)
• Maori: reo kihi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tullprat m, vrøvl (no) n

  Nynorsk: kaudervelsk m, galimatias n

• Polish: bełkot (pl) m
• Portuguese: algaravia (pt) f
• Russian: галиматья́ (ru) f (galimatʹjá)
• Serbo-Croatian: galimatijas (sh) m, lupetanje (sh) n
• Swedish: gallimatias (sv), rappakalja (sv), dravel (sv), struntprat (sv), goja (sv), strunt (sv)

something written or said in an overly complex, incoherent, or incomprehensible manner

• Finnish: kapulakieli (fi)
• French: galimatias (fr) m
• German: Fachchinesisch (de) n, geschwollenes Zeug n (not idiomatic), aufgeblasenes Gesülze n (not idiomatic)
• Hungarian: bikkfanyelv (hu)
• Italian: burocratese (it)
• Maori: reo kihi
• Swedish: fikonspråk (sv), högtravande kanslistil