piffle
/ˈpɪf(ə)l
/noun [mass noun] informal
Nonsense: it’s absolute piffle to say that violence is ok...
- But there's a daunting heap of whimsical fairy-land nonsense and idiotic eastern-flavoured piffle to struggle through before you get to the bits you're likely to remember.
- I read a lot of facts most of which seemed absolute piffle, but I do think I ended up thinking that perhaps a properly controlled hunt is the best way of getting rid of a pest.
- A few relics of the pre-video area still survive, however, and Metro Cinema is bringing in two of the best examples of the rockumentary and one entertaining piece of piffle from those bygone days for your delectation.
Synonyms
nonsense, rubbish, garbage, claptrap, balderdash, blather, blether, moonshine;
foolishness, silliness
informal rot, tripe, hogwash, baloney, drivel, bilge, bosh, bull, bunk, guff, eyewash, poppycock, phooey, hooey, malarkey, twaddle, dribble
British informal cobblers, codswallop, stuff and nonsense, tosh, cack
Scottish & Northern English informal havers
Irish informal codology
North American informal flapdoodle, blathers, applesauce, wack, bushwa
informal, dated bunkum, tommyrot, cod, gammon, toffee
vulgar slang bullshit, crap, balls
British vulgar slang bollocks
Australian/New Zealand vulgar slang bulldust
Origin
Mid 19th century: diminutive of imitative piff-.
poppycock from mid 19th century:
The English language has any number of curious words for ‘nonsense’, such as balderdash (late 16th century) of unknown origins, and codswallop, claptrap—first used in the modern sense by Lord Byron, and piffle (mid 19th century) from the sound. Poppycock was originally Dutch, and comes from pappekak, which meant either ‘soft dung’ or ‘doll's excrement’ Another such term is bosh, a Turkish word meaning ‘empty, worthless’ which was popularized by its frequent use in James Morier's highly successful 1834 novel Ayesha, the Maid of Kar.