I see the word "woowoo" bandied about a lot here. It is my intention to prove that "mumbojumbo" is actually a better word. Here are my arguments:

1. "Mumbojumbo" has built-in pedigree. Here is a word that harkens back to the origins of pseudoscience; to those great 19th and 20th century snake-oil salesmen who started it all. Perpetual motion, Pogue carburetors, Tesla's death ray... the associations are endless. "Woowoo", on the other hand, mostly harkens to, um, this.

2. "Woowoo" repeats one syllable. "Mumbojumbo" rhymes two syllables but changes a letter for more emphasis. It's a more sophisticated literary construction.

3. "Mumbojumbo" not only contains "mum", but also "jumbo". It's practically a 'yo mamma' joke in itself.

4. In a game of Scrabble, "woowoo" will get you twelve points. "Mumbojumbo" will get you accused of cheating, and possibly into a fistfight.

5. The Internet Anagram Server finds no results for "woowoo", but six results for "mumbojumbo". Poor results they may be, but it cannot be argued that six is greater than zero.

6. "Woowoo", in certain cases, may be accidently misspelled "weewee". It is very unlikely that this would happen with "mumbojumbo". Psychadelic drugs would most likely be needed.

- J

Too fraught with religious connotations for BAUT

"Twinkie" has also been used.

But "woowoo", said in the right manner, evokes The Twilight Zone in a way that "mumbojumbo" can't.

ETA: I submit that "mumbojumbo" perfectly describes chaotic, meaningless babble, but "woowoo" better decribes a state of paranoid, conspiratorial delusions.

^ It invokes the 1980's TZ?

well,I just learned from another thread that mathematics is mumbo-jumbo! what does that make me, a voo-dooist?

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

Phil used/uses "woowoo". That makes it part of the BAUT lexicon.


BTW, I looked at this thread's title and thought "What's the difference?"

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One can not discount the words derived from both words to describe practitioners of said words. There is a poetic beauty in calling someone a "woo", it's also the same sound I imagine them to make while doing handwaving. Were we to go with the other words, practitioners could be named "mum" or "jumbo". While in my family the first derivation would be accurate, I feel it to be unneccesarily insulting for billions of moms. In the second case I feel sorry for the elephant. ( Gonna lock her up in a trunk, so no big hunk....)

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Jay200MPH you've given me a song idea.In the event I get off my lazy butt & actually write it,you'll get full credit.

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Hey, the BA likes it!

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