What is "mumbo jumbo"

Mumbo Jumbo \Mum"bo Jum"bo\, n. [Perh. fr. the native name of an African god.]

1. Among the Mandingos of the western Sudan, a bugbear by means of which the women are terrified and disciplined by societies of the men, one of whom assumes a masquerade for the purpose; hence, loosely, any Negro idol, fetish, or bugaboo.

   The miserable Mumbo Jumbo they paraded.
   --Dickens.

2. An object of superstitious homage and fear.
   --Carlyle.

3. Incomprehensible or senseless language, usually intended to avoid answering plainly, confuse a listener, or obscure an issue.

4. Language so arcane or obscure as to be unintelligible to the listener.

1738, name of an idol supposedly worshipped by certain tribes in Africa; said to be a corruption of words in Mandingo (one reconstructed version is Mama Dyumbo), but no likely source has been found in the languages of the Niger region, to which the original accounts relate. Meaning "big, empty talk" is attested from 1896.

n. 1 (context historical English) A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol. 2 (context religion English) Any object of superstition; religious words and/or actions which are seen as superstitious or fraudulent. 3 Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish.

1. n. language that is unnecessarily difficult to understand

2. a state of confusion; ritual accompanied by complicated and purposeless activity that obscures and confuses; "he engaged in the hugger-mugger of international finance" [syn: hugger-mugger]

Mumbo Jumbo may refer to:

• Mumbo jumbo (phrase), an English phrase for a meaningless ritual or nonsense
• Mumbo Jumbo (roller coaster), a roller coaster at Flamingo Land Resort, UK

Mumbo jumbo, or mumbo-jumbo, is an English term which denotes confusing or meaningless language. It is often used to express humorous criticism of middle-management and civil-service doublespeak.

It may also refer to practices based on superstition, rituals intended to cause confusion, or languages that the speaker does not understand. __TOC__

Mumbo Jumbo is a 1972 novel by African-American author Ishmael Reed. Literary critic Harold Bloom cited the novel as one of the 500 most important books in the Western canon. Reed wrote a sequel, The Last Days of Louisiana Red, published in 1974.

Mumbo Jumbo is a roller coaster which opened to the public on 4 July 2009 at Flamingo Land Resort, UK. Mumbo Jumbo is situated in the Lost Kingdom section of the park and has orange supports and black tracks.

The roller coaster is an El Loco model built by manufacturer S&S Worldwide; it is tall, features two inversions and a maximum G force of 4g.

Mumbo Jumbo is the 17th studio album by Australian soft rock band Air Supply released in 2010.