Gobbledygook

Origin of: Gobbledygook

Gobbledygook

This word meaning unintelligible language or meaningless jargon was coined by the Democratic Congressman and Mayor of San Antonio, Maury Maverick. He first used the word in 1944 to complain about the obscure language of his colleagues on the US Smaller War Plants Committee of which he was Chairman. He said his inspiration for the word was the unintelligible noise made by turkeys. Word coining seemed to run in the family. His grandfather, Sam Maverick, gave his name to unbranded cattle and later to unconventional, nonconformist individuals who do not follow the herd. See Maverick.