Sunday, February 16, 2014

Talking Turkey

Sometimes I enjoy sharing the origins of nursery rhymes,sayings or in this case a word. Gobbledygook is a rare word in that it can be connected to the actual date it was coined and the original speaker. A Texas lawyer who was also at times a Congressman and Mayor of San Antonio first used the word on May 21,1944 while complaining about the obscure language used by his colleagues. His inspiration for the word was the turkey,"always gobbledy gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity". It met a clear need for a word to describe unintelligible language,especially legal jargon or bureaucratese. Although I agree with his effort it hasn't seemed to change to outpouring of gobbledygook!
Wild Turkey - Tom

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