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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
FWIW, here's what Plain English has to say in their latest missive:
"...And ironically for us gobbledygook came second in the list. We were quite surprised to see this, as we have seen equivalents in at least four languages, including French (charabia), German (kauderwelsh), Dutch (onzin) and Italian (gergo incomprensible).
We'd love to hear any translations of the word into other languages."
~~~~
n.b. The German is misspelled.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
it is incomprehensible by default rather than intentionally.
I'm not sure of the intentionality of incomprehensibility of gobbledygook either, but its coining is credited to Maury Maverick, US Congressman from Texas, in 1944. He wrote a memo banning "gobbledygook language" and mock-threateaning, "anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot."
Most people who do not speak a jargon, argot, cant, slang, or dialect usually insist that people who do, do so to confuse their audience and hide the topic of conversation behindsome kind of babble. Sometimes they're right, but sometimes not.
The intentionally incomprehensible candidates are usually called cant in English. There are plenty of examples around: e.g., Cockney rhyming slang, in Germany and environs, Rotwelsch (Gaunersprache 'cant', a mixture of German, Yiddish, Romany, etc.), in France Loucherbem (similar to Pig Latin, used by butchers, from boucher) and Verlan (from l'envers), and in Buenos Aires Lunfardo.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
For me the differece between gobbledygook and jargon or cantis that in the latter two the words use may hide the meaning from the uninitiated listener, intentionally or otherwise. Gobbledygook as I have understood it is used to hide the fact that there is no, or very little, meaning. For example the technobabble used on many sci-fi shows. Like they said or the politition "I hear him talking but I don't hear him saying anything."
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
used to hide the fact that there is no, or very little, meaning. - Thank you, this expresses exactly what I had in mind, only better  . I made the experience when I had to translate a management speech (by my boss of the time) from German into French. I had to take care that anything was left of it..
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