Flibbertigibbet

This wonderful word dates from the 1400s; a good word to throw out occasionally, usually to a stunned or uncomprehending audience. Take care not to slur over its many syllables otherwise the effect will be lost. It is an imitative or echoic word much like the blah, blah, blah and yadda, yadda, yadda of today and means the same thing - meaningless chatter. By the 16th century, however, it had come to mean a gossip or a chattering, light-headed person, what today we might call an airhead. The word is sometimes spelled as flippertygibbert and is sometimes used wrongly as a stand-alone exclamation for flipping hell although the latter use is erroneous. Back in the 1400s, it was spelt flepper-gebert, so to pronounce it with double p instead of double b is not seriously wrong, but it was definitely not a minced oath and was never intended as such. The current spelling is due to Shakespeare who demonised gossip in King Lear Act III, Scene IV, “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet; he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock.” Shakespeare is alluding to the fact that some people can gossip all night.