Gobble

[Dr. Goodword]

• gobble •

Pronunciation: gah-bêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: 1. (Transitive) To eat very fast, voraciously, as to gobble up her food. 2. (Intransitive) To make the sound of a turkey.

Notes: Welcome to alphaDictionary's Thanksgiving Day Sale: two Good Words for the price of one! The turkey, that Thanksgiving staple of carnivores, only accidentally makes a sound resembling the word meaning "to devour", to gobble (up, down). Both words have only native English forms: gobbling refers to either activity and a gobbler is a person who eats too fast or the bird most likely to be gobbled up in the US today.

In Play: We held this word back to the season when gobbler-gobblers gobble (recently) gobbling gobblers: "Don't gobble that gobbler, Junior, it might accelerate your growth." (I suspect that these are more examples than anyone needs, so let's move on to the history of gobble.)

Word History: Gobble is based on Middle English gobben "to drink greedily", from gobbe "lump, mouthful" (gob today). Middle English picked up the word from Old French gobe "mouthful", which also went into the making of goblet. It also turned up in another Good Word, gobemouche. The turkey's gobble took its name, of course, directly from the sound that the turkey makes (onomatopoeia). Gobbledygook is a contribution of Representative Maury Maverick (1895-1954), whose grandfather gave us the word maverick. Rep. Maverick based the word gobbledygook on the behavior of turkeys back in Texas. According to him, they are ". . . always gobbledy-gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity. At the end of this gobble there is a sort of 'gook'."

[Slava]

As there's always room for it, you can also gobble gobs of globs of jello.

Does jello need a ™, or has it been commonized?

[bnjtokyo]

According to the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), "jello" per se is not a registered trademark. The most similar registered trademarks are spelled "JELL-O." Merriam-Webster does not have an entry for "jello" but does have "jell-o," and it is identified as a trademark. Oxford has an entry for "jello" followed by "(also jell-o)" and says the word is "North American."

I did not attempt to look up "jello" and its variants in the European or Japanese or any other trademark registries so I will not comment on whether "jello" needs a "tm" if used in any publication outside the US. Although I am not a lawyer, I rather suspect a "tm" is not needed in the US. But if you are concerned about using "jello" in commerce, you should consult with attorneys practicing in the relevant jurisdictions.

[Slava]

Dictionary.com calls jello a "Genericized spelling of trademarked Jell-O". I figure that makes it safe, as long as I'm not trying to use it to sell my own gelatin dessert. The real reason behind wondering about the ™ is that I found out I could do it, via the character map.

Thanks for looking it up, though.