gobbledygook

GOBBLEDYGOOK

GOBBLEDYGOOK, also gobbledegook. A pejorative and facetious term for pretentious and opaque JARGON; inflated language: ‘Just before Pearl Harbor, I got my baptism under “gobbledygook”… its definition: talk or writing which is long, pompous, vague, involved, usually with Latinized words’ ( Maury Maverick, New York Times Magazine, 21 May 1944). For examples of the kind of pretentious and opaque usage often classed as gobbledygook, see BAFFLEGAB, BUREAUCRATESE, DOUBLESPEAK, PLAIN, PLAIN ENGLISH.

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TOM McARTHUR. "GOBBLEDYGOOK." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "GOBBLEDYGOOK." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-GOBBLEDYGOOK.html

TOM McARTHUR. "GOBBLEDYGOOK." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-GOBBLEDYGOOK.html

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gobbledygook

gob·ble·dy·gook / ˈgäbəldēˌgoŏk; -ˌgoōk/ (also gob·ble·de·gook) • n. inf. language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms; nonsense.

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"gobbledygook." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"gobbledygook." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-gobbledygook.html

"gobbledygook." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-gobbledygook.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Gobbledygook, or talking turkey. (how to avoid bureaucratic officialese) (The...
Magazine article from: Journal of Environmental Health; 1/1/1990
Why we must 'Decommit' to gobbledygook. (Guest Column).
Magazine article from: School Administrator; 4/1/2002
Portillo slams education chief in 'gobbledygook' row.(News)
Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 10/6/1999

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