codswallop

a statement which is ridiculous or complete nonsense

TRANSLATION

codswallop = Stuss, Quatsch, Unsinn, Käse

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

Roget’s Thesaurus gives us a range of adjectives to describe lies: downright lies, shameless lies, monstrous lies, outright lies, filthy lies, barefaced lies, shocking lies, dirty lies, big lies; and in desperation, we can draw from the vocabulary of absurdity: CODSWALLOP, bullshit, balderdash.

The Daily Beast

Did you
know?

codswallop
noun (Brit.)

- nonsense


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ORIGIN

According to "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" there was once a gentleman by the name of Hiram Codd who patented a bottle for fizzy drinks. Wallop was a slang term for beer, and Codd's wallop came to be used by beer drinkers as a negative term for weak or gassy beer, or for soft drinks.

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SYNONYMS

What words can you use when you feel that someone is talking complete and utter nonsense? English has a rich collection. All these are to be found in the literature and are still used by the older generation:

codswallop (Brit.), poppycock, balderdash, bosh, hogwash, humbug, baloney, drivel, tommyrot, tripe,...

and more current and more direct:

nonsense, bull, bullshit (abbrev. BS), crap, bollocks (brit. vulgar)

We fear we'll be using these words more and more frequently in the coming months.

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Thanks to Florian for suggesting today's evocative word

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