codswallop

See also: cod's wallop and cods wallop

English

Alternative forms

• cod's wallop, cods wallop

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒdzˌwɒl.əp/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒləp
• Hyphenation: cods‧wal‧lop

Noun

codswallop (uncountable)

1. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Senseless talk or writing; nonsense; rubbish.

   Synonyms: hogswallop; see also Thesaurus:nonsense

   • 1959, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Hancock’s Half Hour:

     Tony: I was not.
     Sidney: Don’t give me that old codswallop. You were counting your money.

   • 1963 October 17, Radio Times, 52/2:

     Just branding a programme as ‘rubbish’, ‘tripe’, or—there are a lot of these—‘codswallop’, gives little indication of what moved the viewer to write.

   • 1981 October 1, John Turner, “Review: Autumn Books: Prometheus bounded?”, in New Scientist, page 41:

     An interviewer from a Warsaw radio station stopped a citizen in the street. Was the recent demonstration necessary? “History will tell.” But what did he think? “I am not a historian.” Likewise Lumsden′s and Wilson′s book. If it is not a load of codswallop, it will turn out to be very important. If it is not a load of codswallop. Faites vos jeux!

   • 1993, J. Neville Turner, The One-Day Game – Cricket or Codswallop?, in 2001, David John Headon, The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection.
   • 2010, Grahame Howard, The Wishing Book 3 – Extermination‎^[2], page 66:

     “I′ve told you all I know,” Rosa Armaz told Boarski and Yermin, “I don′t know what my husband has been doing. He′d mentioned going to Mars with the children but I thought it was a load of codswallop.”

Translations

nonsense — see nonsense

Interjection

codswallop

1. (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Used to express disbelief: nonsense!; rubbish!

   Synonym: hogswallop

Translations

gobbledygook — see gobbledygook

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Codswallop”, in World Wide Words.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “codswallop”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.