Jibber jabber

Posted by David FG on November 21, 2009 at 08:58

In Reply to: Jibber jabber posted by MichaelSean on November 20, 2009 at 18:33:

: Where did the phrase "jibber jabber" come from? I need the year it first appeared. Also, where did the phrase "I haven't the foggiest idea" come from?

As for the second part, something that is 'foggy' is unclear, hard to discern - for fairly obvious reasons - so a foggy idea (if such a phrase existed) would be a vague one.

Not having even the 'foggiest' idea is having no idea at all; not even a badly formed, undefined one.

DFG