codswallop

Meaning

Noun

Senseless talk or writing; nonsense; rubbish.

Intj

Used to express disbelief: nonsense!; rubbish!

Synonyms

rubbish

trumpery

trash

applesauce

folderol

nonsense

tripe

wish-wash

hokum

hooey

litter

bulldust

nonsensicalness

pigswill

rot

cobblers

schlock

sleaze

stuff

bullshit

marry-muff

bull

fadoodle

irresponsible utterance

waste

load of crap

flimflammery

debris

drool

flapdoodle

balonie

Translations

bajanada

تفاهة

farfutalla

bestiesa

palla

fullaraca

لغو

virosta

Geschwätz

Humbug

Quatsch

Unsinn

Larifari

absurde

هراء

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkɒdzˌwɒl.əp/

Etymology

Unknown. Attested from a 1959 episode of the UK TV series Hancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast. A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references, though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name "Sir Aubrey Codswallop". Originally written (1963) codswallop; the spelling cod's wallop is later.
Various etymologies are proposed from some sense of cod, such as from cod (“joke, imitation”) + -s- + wallop (“beer”) (slang), hence “imitation beer” (with interconsonantal -s- to ease pronunciation of -dw-), or from cod (“scrotum, as in codpiece”) + -s- + wallop (“to hit”), hence “to hit (with) the testicle bag,” or from cod (“fish”), hence perhaps some part of the fish, as used in the fishing industry.
A frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as a folk etymology, derives it from Hiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymous Codd-neck bottle, with the suggestion that codswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, from Codd’s + wallop (“beer”), thus sarcastically “Codd’s beer”. There is no evidence that early uses had this sense; the slang term wallop (“beer”) appeared after Codd’s lifetime, initial spellings (in print from 1963) do not reflect such a derivation (*Codd’s wallop and *coddswallop with -dd- are not found), and there is an 80-year gap between the proposed coinage and attestation.
This is also the name given to the wooden device placed over the neck of a codd bottle and given a push (wallop) to dislodge the marble in the neck of the bottle. The word has also been used to describe the process of opening a codd bottle.