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)
 


Resources

Here are some resources to help fight gobbledygook. If you know of other resources that should be added to this list, please contact us at webmaster@gobbledygookaward.com. 
 

Gobbledygook Tools

 
Gobbledygook Grader 
www.gobbledygook grader.com  
A free tool from HubSpot and David Meerman Scott that evaluates your content and checks for gobbledygook, jargon, cliches and over-used, hype-filled words. You'll receive a grade and a full report. 
 
Bullfighter Software 
www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp 
Free software that works with Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to help you eliminate jargon from your writing. 
 
Press Release Grader  
www.pressreleasegrader.com 
A free site that gives an independent view of submitted news releases. The grader looks at lots of things, including the use of gobbledygook words like "flexible," "scalable" and "robust." 
 

Gobbledygook Articles

 
The Gobbledygook Manifesto 
www.webinknow.com/2009/04/top-gobbledygook-phrases-used-in-2008-and-how-to-avoid-them.html 
David Meerman Scott's analysis of overworked phrases in news releases from 2008. "Innovate," "pleased to" and "unique" lead the list. 
 
Lake Superior State University, List of Banned Phrases from 2011 
www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php 
 

Fun Gobbledygook Programs

 
The Gobbledygook Generator 
www.plainenglish.co.uk/examples/gobbledygook_generator.html 
A free site that can give you a good idea of how easy it is to come up with insipid, vapid prose. 
 
Web Economy Bullshit Generator 
www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html 
Another way to create your own gobbledygook. 
 

Good Writing

 
Anguished English 
Richard Lederer's classic book is a fabulous collection of linguistic goofs and mixed-up metaphors. Many of Lederer's books describe the insane ways we assault our language. 
 
Bad Language 
www.badlanguage.net 
In spite of its title, this is a blog on good writing by Matthew Stibbe, writer in chief at Articulate Marketing. 
 
The Elements of Style 
The classic treatise by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White on clear writing.  
 
National Punctuation Day 
www.nationalpunctuationday.com/apostrophe.html 
A celebration of the "lowly comma, correctly used quotes, and other proper uses of periods, semicolon, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis." Included because much gobbledygook, gibberish and jargon could be improved simply by using correct punctuation. 
 
The Party of the First Part: the Curious World of Legalese 
Adam Freedman's book that provides "hilarious, offbeat and downright bizarre examples of simple concepts contorted."  
 
The Plain English Campaign 
www.plainenglish.co.uk 
A U.K. initiative that campaigns against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information. 
 
Ragan.com 
www.ragan.com 
Contains "news, ideas and conversations for communicators worldwide."

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