The word "codswallop", primarily a British English term meaning "nonsense", is of uncertain origin; there are two main schools of thought. British English (BrE) is a term used (especially by Americans) to differentiate between the form of the English language used in the United Kingdom and those used elsewhere. ... See Wikipedia:Nonsense for the usage of Nonsense in Wikipedia. ...

Possible origins

Anglo-Saxon

The first etymology claims that the word derives from cods, an Anglo-Saxon term for testicles, combined with another word of Anglo-Saxon origin, wallop, meaning to scold or chastise (note that this wallop is not the same as the word wallop, meaning "hit"). Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... Human male anatomy The testicles, known medically as testes (singular testis), are the male generative glands in animals. ... Punishing a common scold in the ducking stool. ...

Critics have argued that it is the "punch" meaning of the term wallop that applies, not the older "scold" variant.

Brewing terminology

The second, and more popular etymology places the word's origins in the brewing industry. In 1876, British soft drink maker Hiram Codd designed and patented a bottle designed specifically for fizzy drinks. Though his Codd-neck bottle was a success in the fizzy drink industry, alcohol drinkers disparaged Codd's invention, often saying it was only good for "wallop" (a slang term for beer in the late-19th century). The term soon became "Codd's Wallop" and was eventually used for anything of low-quality or rubbish. A 16th century brewer A 21st century brewer This article concerns the production of alcoholic beverages. ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ... Reusable glass milk bottles A bottle is a small container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a mouth. ... Bubbles of carbon dioxide float to the surface of a carbonated soft drink. ... Reusable glass milk bottles A bottle is a small container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a mouth. ... In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. ... Slang is the non-standard or non-dialectal use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... A selection of bottled beers A selection of cask beers Beer is the worlds oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Critics argue that this term, despite its popularity, is not likely to be the origin, as the first recorded use of "codswallop" was not until around the 1960s, over ninety years after the term for beer fell out of use. The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...

As the BBC series Balderdash & Piffle describes, the term appears in a 1959 episode of Hancock's Half Hour. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the largest publicly-funded radio and television broadcasting corporation of the United Kingdom (see British television) and the world. ... Hancocks Half Hour was a famous BBC radio comedy series of the 1950s starring Tony Hancock. ...

External links

• Weird Words:Codswallop
• What is the origin of the word 'codswallop'?
• Everything2: Codswallop