Gobbledygook Award

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Gobbledygook 
 
Wordy and generally unintelligible jargon (Webster's New Encyclopedic Dictionary) 
 
Language characterized by circumlocution and jargon, usually hard to understand (Free Online Dictionary) 
 
Gibberish 
 
Pretentious or needlessly obscure language (Merriam Webster OnLine) 
 
Meaningless or unintelligible talk or writing (Dictionary.com) 
 
Jargon 
 
Confused, unintelligible language (Webster's New Encyclopedic Dictionary) 
 
Obscure and often pretentious language (Merriam Webster OnLine)
 


Criteria

You may submit any examples of writing that meets any or all of these criteria: 
 
1. Overuse of meaningless terms such as:

  • Solution
  • Scalable
  • System, systematized
  • Leverage
  • Integral
  • Best of breed
  • Mission critical
  • Out of the box
  • Next-generation
  • Flexible
  • Robust
 
2. Substitution of a meaningless word for a meaningful one, such as "solution" for "hardware," or "thought showers" for "brainstorming." 
 
3. Complex sentence structure (legalese or bureaucratese) that confuses rather than clarifies.  
 
4. Combinations of three or more multi-syllabic words in a row, such as "integral paradigm transitions."  
 
5. "Verbs" created by adding "ize" to a noun, e.g., "incentivize," "funeralize."  
 
In short, any example of government-speak, technobabble, legalese or the like (as long as it is verifiable online) is eligible.  
 
Types of material include:
  • Websites
  • News releases
  • Articles
  • Advertisements
  • Brochures and other collateral (available online)
  • Presentations, and
  • Directions.
 
Any online report of offline gobbledygook makes the offline material eligible. 

Gobblydygook Award

The nominations and awards will be posted on this website as they are received and approved.  
 
The people nominating the top three winners will receive their choice of one of the following books: Anguished English, Revenge of Anguished English, The Party of the First Part, Gobbledygook, Doublespeak and The New Doublespeak.  
 
The winners and their nominees will be notified by e-mail, announced publicly and featured on this website. 
 
Nominations can cover anything displayed online until September 30, 2011.

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