Gobbledygook, flibbertigibbet ... and more....

 

Well... what can I say?  I was going to write this week's blog about "the significance of the passage of time" but it seems that idea has been a bit overused this week.  So ... instead ... the topic is gobbledygook and flibbertigibbet … two words that are sort of fun to say… but not fun to listen to or to be trapped with in the same room.

First is Gobbledygook.  We are all too familiar with this commonplace "misuse" of language.  It brings to mind any of a number of politicians or the occasional press secretary who have become masters of saying nothing and of using big words in strings in an attempt to flummox regular people. They think they are smarter than we are. They think we are nincompoops.  They underestimate us for sure. Obviously.  You can tell it is gobbledygook if, when you listen to them, the only thing you can think of is: “Wait. What?”  It’s not you; trust me on that. We are so on to them. Are we not?

Then there is flibbertigibbet. Now a flibbertigibbet is, as you know, a flighty, silly person with the added connotation of being someone who, in addition to that silly stuff, has a leaning toward being a blabbermouth, busybody, chatterbox, meddler, newsmonger, tattle tell, etc.  (All nice descriptive words as well.) You get the idea.

Now that I think of it … a flibbertigibbet who has tendencies toward gobbledygook is definitely someone to be avoided.  Perhaps that is why I have been on a “news brownout" now for a while. Just sayin’.

Anyway ...  I would love to meet the person who first used the words gobbledygook and flibbertigibbet.  He/she ranks right up there with the wordsmiths who came up with balderdash, codswallop and nincompoop. Some might say that these five words sort of run together- belong to the same club/gang. Yet, I bet all five could be used in a meaningful sentence of just six, or maybe seven words. Words are fascinating and sometimes fun for sure.

I was thinking about my favorite word of the moment just last Sunday while watching one of those old (as in rerun) Inside the Actors’ Studio interviews – this one with Robin Williams.  I forget what he said his favorite word was, but my favorite word at this moment is thwack.  Don’t know why – it is just fun to say.  I keep waiting for the appropriate situation in which it might fit... a situation that does not involve tennis balls. I feel the same way about the French word for umbrella – parapluie – like I said – just fun to say. Plus it is one of the few French words that I remember. Anyway...

I would love to know what your favorite words are.  Bet they run the gamut. Feel free to share – with or without explanation. I bet your faves are flabbergasting. Okay -- enough now....