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VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE English Language => Topic started by: teletubbies_95 on October 25, 2013, 06:14:26 pm

Title: Difference between "Gobbledygook" and bureaucratese
Post by: teletubbies_95 on October 25, 2013, 06:14:26 pm

I asked my teacher if there was a difference and he said no . Is there a difference?

Title: Re: Difference between "Gobbledygook" and bureaucratese
Post by: sasa on October 25, 2013, 06:25:11 pm

Gobbledygook is language that is meaningless because it is rarely understood, due to technical terms (jargon). An example of this could be bureaucratese or Legalese.

Bureaucratese is a dysphemistic term used to describe the complex terms (jargon) used by "office people" which is unintelligible to others as most can't understand it.

So in sum, bureaucratese= example of gobbledygook

Please note: jargon is not always difficult to understand...it depends on the semantic field which it is applied to. I.e. medicine, law, circus, media, school (VCE ;P) etc. it is just that jargon in the legal field and in he office are quite often done to deliberately confuse "lay" people (people who do not work in that field). It could be used as a form of overt or covert prestige.