Today someone accused me of writing dribble. I was horrified, if you are going to criticise me you at least need to be literate—surely you mean drivel?
But to be fair, the words are often confused by the hoi polloi, and, to be honest, by this driveller. Dribble and drivel sound similar but have quite different origins.
Dribble
Dribble comes from the late 16th century, first meaning to “let fall in drops or bits.” It comes from the now-obsolete “drib” which is a variant of drip. Water dribbles from a tap as a stream of droplets.
By the mid-19th century, dribble had been used on the sporting field. In 1863 it was used in Association Football (soccer) to describe gently and repeatedly kicking the ball forward. By 1892, basketballers were moving the ball around the court in small bounces which also became known as dribbling. It remains a very respectable verb in sport, less so when used to describe old men like me when we are eating soup.
Drivel
Drivel is an older and far more delightful word. It first appeared in Old English as “dreflian” meaning to slaver, slobber, or run from the nose. It is thought to be derived from “draf” the residue of husks after fermentation of the grain used in brewing, which is used as cattle feed.
By the 14th century it had extended metaphorically to mean to speak nonsense. Drivel is spoken by children, fools, and those in cognitive decline.
It’s a much more appropriate word to be applied to my writing than dribble. Using “drivel” definitely suggests the words I have pulled together have no real meaning or merit. Not wrong, necessarily—just the sort of thing you read on government websites.
Drool
Drool another word describing a similar phenomena, is a newcomer, arriving in the English lexicon in the early 1800s. It appears to be a dialect variant of “drivel” and refers more specifically to the act of saliva escaping the mouth. Drool seems to have replaced drivel in everyday use. Drool is also used for babies, hungry bulldogs, and, mostly applied to men, for the response to unrequited desires.
Mixed
The confusion between dribble and drivel comes from their overlapping histories. Dribbling is now the more dominant word for drooling and has replaced drivelling in US English. Drivel is now stronger in its metaphorical meaning—for words that tumble out of mouths like drool. And then, from speaking to writing, for words that tumble out of word processors with no substance.
On the court
I’ve never quite shaken the image of basketballers and soccer players drooling in concentration as they dribble their balls up the court or field. Dribbling is perhaps a word they should replace if they want me to take those sports seriously.
Give the drivel its due
So no, I don’t write dribble, thank you, I write drivel.