Leading Through Language

5 LACK-OF–CLARITY JARGON

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought – So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and throuhg The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

—Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky”

If you have read Lewis Carroll's wonderful 1871 novel Through the Looking Glass, and what Alice Found There, you almost certainly remember the moment when Alice meets the White King and White Queen and finds a book that includes the nonsense poem “Jabberwocky.” The brilliance of the poem is that it sounds like English, and holds true to English syntax and poetic structure, yet is riddled with nonsensical words that defy explanations. What is “Bandersnatch” or a “Jubjub bird”? What does it mean to “outgrabe” or ...