gibberish

The etymology of gibberish is uncertain. The term was seen in English in the early 16th century.{{cite book |last=Chantrell |first=Glynnis |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |location=Oxford, UK |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000unse_x2z7/page/231 231] |isbn=0-19-863121-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000unse_x2z7/page/231 }} It is generally thought to be an onomatopoeia imitative of speech, similar to the words jabber (to talk rapidly) and gibber (to speak inarticulately).{{cite encyclopedia |year=2013 |title=gibberish |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=online |publisher=Oxford University Press}}{{Cite web |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gibberish |access-date=6 February 2014}}

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.{{cite book |last1=Leland |first1=Charles G. |title=The English Gipsies and Their Language |date=1873 |publisher=Hurd and Houghton |location=New York |page=88 |url=https://archive.org/details/englishgipsiesa00lelagoog/page/n109 |quote=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.}}

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.{{cite journal |first=Glenn T. |last=Seaborg |title=Our heritage of the elements |journal=Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B |publisher=Springer Boston |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=March 1980 |pages=5–19 |doi=10.1007/bf02657166|bibcode=1980MTB....11....5S |s2cid=137614510 }}{{cite book |url=http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/its-a-wonderful-word-the-real-origins-of-our-favourite-words/9781446456095 |title=It's a Wonderful Word: The Real Origins of Our Favourite Words |publisher=Random House UK |author=Jack, Albert |year=2011 |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1847946690 |access-date=2015-06-28 |archive-date=2015-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701075141/http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/its-a-wonderful-word-the-real-origins-of-our-favourite-words/9781446456095 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last1=Quinion |first1=Michael |title=Gibberish|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gib2.htm |website=World Wide Words |access-date=20 January 2016 |date=3 Oct 2015}}{{cite journal |last1=Amr |first1=Samir S. |last2=Tbakhi |first2=Abdelghani |title=Jabir ibn Hayyan |journal=Annals of Saudi Medicine |pages=52–53 |doi=10.5144/0256-4947.2007.53 |date=2007|volume=27 |issue=1 |pmc=6077026 }} After 1818, editors of Johnson's Dictionary rejected that origin theory.{{cite web |last1=Kolb |first1=Gwin J. |last2=Demaria | first2=Robert Jr. |title=Dr. Johnson's etymology of 'gibberish' |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dr.+Johnson%27s+etymology+of+%27gibberish.%27.-a055015215 |website=The Free Library |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=15 July 2021 |date=1998 |quote=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.}}

A discredited alternative theory asserts that it is derived from the Irish word gob or gab ("mouth"){{cite book |last=Mackay |first=Charles |title=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 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCingf_1px0C&pg=PA183 |access-date=5 February 2014|year=1887 |publisher=S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington |pages=183–184}} or from the Irish phrase Geab ar ais ("back talk, backward chat").{{cite book |last=Cassidy |first=Daniel |title=How the Irish Invented Slang: The secret language of the crossroads |year=2007 |publisher=CounterPunch |isbn=978-1-904859-60-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/howirishinvented0000cass/page/155 155–156] |chapter=A Dictionary of Irish-American Vernacular |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/howirishinvented0000cass/page/155 }} The latter Irish etymology was suggested by Daniel Cassidy, whose work has been criticised by linguists and scholars.{{cite magazine |last=Brady |first=Michael Patrick |title=How the Irish Invented Slang |url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/how-the-irish-invented-slang-by-daniel-cassidy/ |magazine=PopMatters |date=17 October 2007 |access-date=2014-03-24 |df=dmy-all}}{{cite web |last=Barrett |first=Grant |title=Humdinger of a Bad Irish Scholar |url=http://grantbarrett.com/humdinger-of-a-bad-irish-scholar |date=9 November 2007 |access-date=2014-03-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927075013/http://grantbarrett.com/humdinger-of-a-bad-irish-scholar |archive-date=2013-09-27 }}{{cite web |last=Zwicky |first=Arnold |title=Gullibility in high places |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005098.html |publisher=Language Log |date=9 November 2007 |access-date=2014-03-24 |df=dmy-all}} 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.{{cite book |title=Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla |year=1992 |publisher=An Gúm |isbn=978-1-85791-037-7 |page=630 |df=dmy-all}}

The term gobbledygook was coined by Maury Maverick, a former congressman from Texas and former mayor of San Antonio.{{cite AV media |url=http://www.waywordradio.org/maverick-and-gobbledygook-minicast |title=Maverick and Gobbledygook (minicast) |series=A Way with Words |access-date=2017-01-28 |medium=audio |df=dmy-all}} 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."{{cite web |last1=Maverick |first1=Maury |title=Memorandum from Maury Maverick to Everybody in Smaller War Plants Corporation |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7788338 |website=The National Archives Catalog |publisher=US National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=21 January 2016 |date=24 March 1944 |quote=Subject: Lengthy memoranda and gobbledygook language. Be short and use plain English. |df=dmy-all |archive-date=6 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506212831/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7788338 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19440331&id=LwkeAAAAIBAJ&pg=6649,4291444 |title=Gobbledygook? Lay off it, Maverick says |date=31 March 1944 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |access-date=4 February 2014 |df=dmy-all}} 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."{{cite news |last1=Maverick |first1=Maury |title=The case against 'Gobbledygook' |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B00E1D91331E03BBC4951DFB366838F659EDE |access-date=20 January 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=21 May 1944 |quote=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. |df=dmy-all}}{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19850526&id=4GUaAAAAIBAJ&pg=1469,6217091 |title=Gobbledygood |last=Gartner |first=Michael |date=26 May 1985 |publisher=Milwaukee Journal |access-date=4 February 2014 |df=dmy-all }}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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."{{cite book |last=Wheen |first=Francis |year=2010 |title=Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-0-00-744120-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/strangedaysindee00whee/page/11 11–12] |url=https://archive.org/details/strangedaysindee00whee |url-access=registration}}

• 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."{{cite web |title=Simpson's contemporary quotations |publisher=Bartleby.com |url=http://www.bartleby.com/63/38/338.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207025031/http://www.bartleby.com/63/38/338.html |archive-date=7 December 2008 |df=dmy-all}}

• 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.{{cite web |first=Oliver |last=Roeder |date=17 October 2017 |title=The Supreme Court is allergic to math |website=FiveThirtyEight |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-supreme-court-is-allergic-to-math/ |df=dmy-all}}

• 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."{{cite web |title=Contemporary Quotes |url=http://www.chat11.com/Contemporary_Quotes |date=October 2007 |website=Chat11.com |access-date=4 February 2014 |df=dmy-all |archive-date=23 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723003537/http://www.chat11.com/Contemporary_Quotes |url-status=dead }}{{Unreliable source?|date=February 2014}}

Using gibberish whilst acting can be used as an improvisation exercise in theatre arts education.{{cite book |last= Spolin |first=Viola |author-link=Viola Spolin |title=Improvisation for the Theater: A handbook of teaching and directing techniques |edition=3rd |location=Evanston, IL |publisher=Northwestern University Press |year=1999 |url=https://archive.org/details/improvisationfor0000spol |url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/improvisationfor0000spol/page/112 112] |isbn=0810140098}}

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.

Mary Poppins features a song called "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," a nonsense word whose only purpose is to be the longest word in English, though it is not.

{{further|Officialese|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.{{cite book|last=Garner|first=Bryan A.|title=Garner on Language and Writing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_PdSrVNTUUC|access-date=11 February 2014|year=2009|publisher=American Bar Association|isbn=978-1-61632-679-1}} 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.{{cite book|last=Czarniawska|first=Barbara|title=Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etpQwTA0bdoC|access-date=11 February 2014|year=1997|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-13229-7}}

Bafflegab is a synonym, a slang term referring to confusing or a generally unintelligible use of jargon.{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bafflegab |title=bafflegab |website=Dictionary.com |access-date=4 February 2014}}

{{div col |colwidth=18em}}

• Babbling
• Double-talk
• Glossolalia
• Grammelot
• 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 salad
• Gibberlink

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Wiktionary|gibberish|gobbledygook|jibber-jabber}}

• [http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/Gibber/Gibber.htm A statistical gibberish generator] based on Markov chains
• [http://www.odlt.org The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology]
• [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gib2.htm Gibberish - World Wide Words]

Category:Gibberish language

Category:16th-century neologisms

Category:Terminology

Category:English language

Category:Jargon

Category:Nonsense