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(35) The best definition of " Hogwash" I’ve heard so far. (34) Maybe it seems like a simple question, but the meaning of the word " Hogwash" can get slippery.
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(33) If you had to explain to someone who was learning English what " Hogwash" is, what would you say?
#Hogwash meaning how to#
(32) How to use " Hogwash" with Example Sentences.
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(31) What is the modern definition of " Hogwash"? (30) Your entire argument crumbles under scrutiny it's all hogwash. (29) I'm not sure where you got your information, but it's hogwash. (28) I can't believe you're trying to convince me with hogwash. (27) What you're saying is nothing but hogwash and nonsense. (26) I'm afraid I have to say it: your argument is hogwash. (25) That's nothing but hogwash, there's no truth to it. (24) Your reasoning behind your opinion is just hogwash. (23) I'm quite sure everything you're saying is hogwash. (22) That presentation was hogwash from start to finish. (21) I can't stand listening to your hogwash any longer. (20) Please stop with the hogwash and get to the point. (19) The argument you are making is complete hogwash. (18) Your thoughts about the topic are total hogwash. (17) What a load of hogwash! That's not true at all. (16) That's just a bunch of hogwash you're spouting. (15) Your explanation makes no sense it's hogwash. (14) I'm sorry, but your argument is pure hogwash. (13) All of his promises turned out to be hogwash. (12) Your statement is nothing more than hogwash. (11) That entire story is hogwash, in my opinion. (10) I don't believe a word of that hogwash. (9) I'm sorry, but your logic is hogwash. The word I have heard used for that sort of thing is casuistry.Ĭlearly, when we want to dismiss something as claptrap, poppycock, flapdoodle and ráiméis, we are spoilt for choice.(8) You cannot fool me with your hogwash.
#Hogwash meaning full#
For your one doubt he will give you twenty new ones and his talk is always full of “ifs” and “buts”, rawmaish and pseudo-theology. Ye are forever trimming and adjudicating yourselves to the new winds that do blow. Flann O’Brien found use for it in his rambunctious satire The Hard Life: It’s quite common in Irish English, where its spelling is sometimes anglicised to reflect pronunciation, as rawmaish, raumaish or rawmaysh, or in the gerund form rawmaishing. In her MED Magazine article ‘ Talking Nonsense: old-fashioned terms for nonsense in English’, Diane Nicholls reports that poppycock originates in a Dutch dialectal word, pappekak, which translates literally as “soft dung”, while bunkum and its abbreviated form bunk hail from Buncombe, a county in North Carolina, owing to a minor political incident there in the early 19th century.Īn Irish word meaning nonsense or foolish talk – one I use now and then – is ráiméis. Some have histories as curious as their sound and appearance. Though highly popular in informal contexts, these coarse expressions are generally avoided in polite company, or some other strategy is used for example, bullshit may be euphemised transparently as B.S. Other synonyms are more blunt, few more so than bullshitand its neighbours crap, bollocks and the like. Consider the old Irish expression: “There’s a great deal of sense outside your head.” Most of the line sounds like a sober compliment, until the word outside delivers an abrupt insult and a humorous absurdity. This would fall under the subfield of pragmatics known as politeness theory. Maybe their playfulness, though it stresses the silliness of what’s being criticised, also softens the blow of criticism. These are words to delight in, flamboyant terms that parade themselves in a sentence and often stand alone.
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Think of baloney, balderdash, piffle, gobbledegook, gibberish, poppycock, flapdoodle, twaddle, tommyrot, hogwash, hooey, and a load of old cobblers. Many words for nonsense have an entertaining, almost clownish feel.
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