This Sunday (13th September 2026) marks what would have been Roald Dahl's 110th birthday. And there is no better way to celebrate the man who gave the world scrumdiddlyumptious, snozzcumber, and whizpopping than by talking about the language he invented.
That language has a name. Gobblefunk.
Dahl created over 300 words during his lifetime. Words that appear in his books as though they have always existed, as though the dictionary simply forgot to include them. Words that feel wrong to read silently. Words that need to be said out loud, with conviction, with a curl of the lip or a gleam in the eye, to work their full magic.
Reading scrumdiddlyumptious on a page is fine. Hearing it said by the right voice at the right moment is something else entirely.
That is what this post is about.
What Is Gobblefunk? The Official Language of Roald Dahl
Gobblefunk is the collective name for the invented words, phrases, and expressions found throughout Roald Dahl's books. The term itself comes from The BFG, where it is used to describe the Giant's own peculiar way of speaking.
Linguists, teachers, and the Roald Dahl Story Company have catalogued more than 300 Gobblefunk words. Some are purely comic. Some are disgusting. Some are so perfectly formed that you wonder why nobody thought of them before.
But here is the thing about Gobblefunk. It was never meant to be read in silence. It was meant to be spoken. Performed. Savoured out loud.
And that is why audiobooks change everything.
The Words That Sound Better Than They Read
Category 1: The Giants and Grotesques, The BFG and The Twits
Snozzcumber, the foul, disgusting vegetable that the BFG is forced to eat because he refuses to gobble up human beans like the other giants. On the page it looks strange. Said out loud with the right comic disgust it becomes one of the funniest words in children's literature.
Trogglehumper, a truly terrible nightmare. Not just any nightmare. A trogglehumper. The word itself sounds like something lurching out of the dark. It needs weight. It needs timing. It needs a voice that understands exactly how awful a trogglehumper truly is.
These are words that reward the listener. Children in the back seat of a car, headphones on, will laugh out loud at the right delivery of snozzcumber in a way that silent reading simply cannot replicate.
Category 2: The Whimsical and Delicious, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Scrumdiddlyumptious, utterly, completely, overwhelmingly delicious. Seven syllables of pure joy. It needs energy. It needs someone who can make invented candy words practically taste real to the listener.
Hornswoggler, a dangerous Dahl creature. Again, a word that belongs in the mouth, not on the page.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a book built on excess and wonder and the slightly unsettling feeling that Willy Wonka is not entirely to be trusted. The right audiobook narration captures all of that in a single word.
Category 3: The Rebel Words, Matilda
Blithering, used by the magnificent, terrifying Miss Trunchbull to devastating effect. It sounds exactly like what it means when delivered with the right authority.
Trunchbullism, not an official Gobblefunk word, but it should be. The whole world of Miss Trunchbull compressed into a single idea.
Matilda is a book about the power of words, about a child who finds freedom through language and stories. Hearing it rather than reading it adds a dimension that changes the experience. The contrast between the soft magic of Matilda's world and the sharp, booming terror of the headmistress is something an audiobook delivers in a way the page cannot.
The Parent and Teacher Survival Guide to Roald Dahl on Audio
Half term is coming. The drive to Cornwall stretches ahead of you. The rain is horizontal and the kids have already exhausted every other option.
This is where Roald Dahl on audio earns its keep.
Research from the National Literacy Trust shows that children who listen to audiobooks develop vocabulary, auditory confidence, and a love of stories faster than those who only encounter words on a page. Hearing complex phonics and invented words pronounced correctly by professional narrators builds literacy skills in a way that feels like pure entertainment.
For Key Stage 2 classrooms, Roald Dahl audiobooks are a particularly powerful tool. Gobblefunk words introduce children to the concept that language is playful, that words can be invented, that the rules of English are not as fixed as they might seem. That is a genuinely valuable lesson, and it lands harder when a great voice is delivering it.
No screen needed. No Wi-Fi required. Just a Voxblock player, a pair of headphones, and the world's greatest storyteller.
The Best Roald Dahl Audiobooks, Ranked by Gobblefunk Delivery
1. The BFG
The gold standard. The BFG is essentially a book about language. About how words work, what they mean, how they can be twisted and reassembled into something new. On audio it is extraordinary. Every snozzcumber, every whizpopping, every trogglehumper lands with the weight and the comedy it deserves. Essential listening.
2. Matilda
The contrast between Matilda's world and Miss Trunchbull's is never more vivid than on audio. The words chosen to describe each character's world feel entirely different in the mouth of a narrator, and children pick up on that contrast instinctively.
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Scrumdiddlyumptious. That is all.
Listen to Gobblefunk the Way It Was Meant to Be Heard
Roald Dahl spent his life arguing that children deserved to be treated with intelligence, humour, and a healthy disrespect for boring grown-ups. Gobblefunk is the purest expression of that belief. It is language as play. Language as rebellion. Language as pure, ridiculous, magnificent fun.
It sounds better out loud. It always did.
Explore our Roald Dahl audiobook collection at voxblock.co.uk and give your child the gift of Gobblefunk done properly. Screen-free, Wi-Fi-free, and ready to play the moment the block slots in.
Because some words were simply made to be heard.
Happy birthday, Mr Dahl.
