Gobbley gook

Posted by David FG on May 03, 2010 at 11:00

In Reply to: Gobbley gook posted by Terrence neilan on May 03, 2010 at 09:44:

: Gobbley gook. I've used it before - don't know where it came from.

Spelled in various ways (I would use 'gobbledygook' but that's just a matter of personal taste), it was a word invented, it seems, by Maury Maverick, a Texan lawer, a Congressman, and mayor of San Antonio.

He used it in the New York Times Magazine on 21 May 1944, in protest against the obscure language used by his colleagues. The word was an attempt at copying the noises made by turkeys.

It is one of the very few words that can be traced not only to a precise person, but even to an exact date.

DFG