codswallop

English - Turkish

Definition of codswallop in English Turkish dictionary

saçmalık

zırva

Related Terms

nonsensical talk or writing

anlamsız konuşmak veya yazmak

English - English

Definition of codswallop in English English dictionary

senseless talk or writing; nonsense

{i} nonsense, rubbish, hogwash (British)

nonsensical talk or writing

disapproval If you describe something that someone has just said as codswallop, you mean that you think it is nonsense. This is a load of codswallop. = cobblers. nonsense (Perhaps from cods (from codd ) + WALLOP)

Hyphenation

cods·wal·lop

Etymology

[ 'kodz-"wä-l&p, 'k&aum ] (noun.) 1963. Supposedly from Hiram Codd, a British manufacturer of soft drinks, who patented several designs for mineral water bottles in the 1870s + wallop, a beer drinker’s pejorative reference to soft drink. There is an absence of evidence supporting this. The suggestion is further discredited by early spellings of the term. There is another possible source for this phrase coming from a connection to cod fishing. The long history of Cod Fishing in the North Atlantic as well as the earlier references to the phrase lends credence to its having an etymology dating back before the 1870's. The term wallop can mean the eggs (roe) of the fish, which in the case of the Cod fish was considered useless garbage as compared to the value of such items as caviar. This explanation gives an even closer etymological definition for the current use of the term as meaning something that is of little or no value. As a possible indication of similarity, it might be noted that the Danish word for 'guts' (though not colloquial) is 'indvold' as in that which is cleaned from a codfish and mostly thrown away. The pronunciation of 'w' and 'v' are often interchanged in Scandinavian dialects and languages, so there might be a connection between 'wallop' and 'indvold' or 'indwold'. The meaning noted above; 'eggs or roe', may be imprecise, as indvold refers to the intestines, stomach and virtually anything which is cleaned from the inside of the body cavity. Cod's roe is and has been for centuries a part of the diet of all peoples who consume codfish. It is much too valuable and nutritious to be considered useless garbage. Evidently by folk-etymology referring to swill, this word has North American variants hogswallop, hog's wallop, and hog swallop. There would however, appear to be another explanation; Cod,as is known from medieval texts, refers to the penis, as is cod piece, peascod (ref Shakespeare et al.) and wallop (see above). Combining the two would result in the reasonable conclusion that Codswallop may have come from the combination of penis and rubbish, thus providing either the explanation that it is either semen or urine. The fact that it appears in no texts until the 50s or 60s has no relevence, as many slang (or coloquial) words rarely appear in literature or manuscript until long after first ussage.