Psittacism

Psittacism is speech or writing that appears mechanical or repetitive in the manner of a parrot. More generally it is a pejorative description of the use of words which appear to have been used without regard to their meaning.

The word is derived from the Latin term for parrots psittaci in an analogy with the ability of some parrots to speak human words but without any knowledge of their meaning. Parrots, in turn, may be used as symbols of psittacism. In Flaubert's story Un cœur simple the parrot may have been used in this manner. Ben Stoltzfus wrote in The French Review: