Movie & Vocab: Johnny English (spoke in a unclear way)

Last week, a diligent student asked me the word for describing the action of someone speaking in an unclear way. I couldn't recall the verb or the actual spelling of the word on the spot, so I promised her I would get back to her. Thus my entry today:

The first word which came to my mind that day was the term "talking gibberish", which reminds me of one of my favourite comedies called Johnny English, by my all-time favourite actor, Rowan Atkinson. (I will write the next entry to discover more about him)

Gibberish is a noun which refers to "spoken or written words which are nonsense and have no meaning", and you can watch a hilarious part of the Johnny English movie which uses this word:

Johnny English: (watch from 6:44)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlHUXPg6Was

(HMV is now selling it at $55 a DVD!!!)


But gibberish doesn't quite fit the word we wanted, and so I tried to recall and research, and here's what I have to share:


Gibber -- to speak quickly in a way that cannot be understood, usually when you are very frightened or confused
Jabber (away/out) -- to speak or say something quickly in a way that is difficult to understand
Gabble (away) -- to speak quickly and not clearly so that it is difficult to understand
Burble (about sth/on about sth)-- to talk about something continuously and in a way that is not very clear
Waffle (on)-- to talk or write a lot without giving any useful information or any clear answers
Mumble -- to speak quietly and in a way that is not clear so that the words are difficult to understand




What is interesting about these words are that they more or less have the suffix -er or -le in their spellings!!! I found an online book called "The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume 3 by Richard M. Hogg, Norman Francis Blake, Roger Lass, R. W. Burchfield" which talks about these suffixes on page 406. What it says on the book is that -le expresses small and repeated movements, while -er expresses sound or movements.


After knowing this, I hope you will find memorizing these words a little easier. I have also discussed -en suffix earlier on, so you may take another look if you have forgotten.


http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/06/vocabulary-suffix-en.html


There are many other examples given in this book, so you may also learn them up.





Picture resources:
http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/images/cinema/johnny-english.jpg


Resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxfk9qDV3cA
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=32805&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=32807&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=42313&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=10310&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=31936&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=88770&dict=CALD
http://books.google.com/books?id=CCvMbntWth8C&pg=PA406&lpg=PA406&dq=suffixes+%22-le%22&source=bl&ots=U-z6YSxDAa&sig=pOiHuLm0pTUx5m4zNNmauUC0gpk&hl=en&ei=Z1gTS5b6CZGTkAXf2ImjBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=suffixes%20%22-le%22&f=false
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/06/vocabulary-suffix-en.html