Sunday, August 06, 2006

Bullshit

Bullshit (often abbreviated to BS) is a common expletive. Its meanings include unacceptable behavior or ludicrously false representations. As with many expletives, it can be used as an interjection (or in many other parts of speech) and can carry a wide variety of meanings.
As it contains the word "shit", the term is sometimes considered foul language, hence the use of the euphemistic abbreviations "bull" and "BS". However the term is prevalent in American English and, as with many words, the term is used in a variety countries some dating back to approximately the same era WWI. In British English, bollocks is the equivalent expletive. In Australian English, Bulldust is another equivalent but less popular expletive, In Australia the phenomenon Bulldusting does not exist whereas Bullshitting, Bullshit filters and a number of other Bullshit based derivatives do.
While bullshitting and bullshit can be used in a deprecating sense, the term 'bullshit artist' may imply a measure of respect for the skill required to bullshit effectively. It is by no means necessary to be inaccurate or wrong to be bullshitting, simply being overly pompous, presumptuous, or putting on excessively academic airs, may also be labelled in some cultural subgroups as bullshitting.

Etymology
"Bull", meaning nonsense, dates from around the 17th century (Concise Oxford Dictionary), whereas the term "bullshit" was first used in 1915, in American slang, and came into popular usage only during World War II. The word "bull" itself may have derived from the Old French boul meaning "mistake." The term "bullshit" is a near synonym.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home