technobabble

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TECHNOBABBLE. An informal term for the use or overuse of technical JARGON. John A. Barry in the introduction to Technobabble (MIT Press, 1991) says that ‘the word connotes meaningless chatter about technology’ but ‘is also a form of communication among people in the rapidly advancing, computer and other high-technological industries’. As an example he gives: This paper-based, productized module is designed to support the robust implementation of a friendly, context-driven interface between the developer and the end-user (a facetious description of his own book). In his glossary, he provides five near synonyms for the term: compuspeak, computalk, tech speak, techno-talk, and technojive. Compare COMPUTERESE, PSYCHOBABBLE, TECHNOSPEAK.

technobabble Speech or written text which is heavily larded with ABBREVIATIONS and technical words to the point where it becomes barely understandable. See also WEBLISH.

tech·no·bab·ble / ˈteknōˌbabəl/ • n. inf. incomprehensible technical jargon.

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