malarkey
nounUK /məˈlɑːki/ · US /məˈlɑɹki/
Etymology Of unknown origin; the word was popularized by the Irish-American cartoonist Thomas Aloysius (“Tad”) Dorgan (1877–1929), who started using it in cartoons on March 9, 1922. Maybe from Irish mallachtóireacht or Greek μαλακίες (malakíes)
1
Informal Nonsense; rubbish.
- I decided it was a bunch of malarkey and stopped reading about halfway through.
- Malachy—You said it—I wouldn't trust a lawyer no further than I could throw a case of Scotch.1934 April 2, Thomas Aloysius Dorgan, The Capital Times, Madison, Wis.: Capital Times Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:
4 more examples
- It's a lot of mallarky for mothers, sisters, and sweethearts to ask "Laddie, when you're far away will you think of me?" The answer is NO! The girls who teach the soldier boys are kept busy as a bee. It's the soldier boys who pay.1939, The Commentator, volume 6, New York, N.Y.: Payson Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 45, column 2:
- She shrugged. "I've told you all I know." / "Mallarky. You haven't even begun to spill and you know it."1945, Lawrence Lariar, Erle Stanley Gardner, Marjorie Alan, The Girl with the Frightened Eyes [by Lawrence Lariar]; The Case of the Half-wakened Wife [by Erle Stanley Gardner]; Dark Prophecy [by Marjorie Alan], New York, N.Y.: Detective Book Club, →OCLC, page 127:
- If I told you that we had launched the glove washing program without effort it would be purely malarkey. Right off the bat we had some squawks about dermatitis.1957 July, Merrick Pratt, “Administering the Protective Equipment Program”, in Gerard J. Riley, editor, Modern Sanitation: The Magazine of Sanitation Management and Plant Housekeeping, volume 9, number 1, Easton, Pa.: Powell Magazines, →OCLC, page 21:
- 'Smuggling,' she said. 'has a fine romantic ring about it—once aboard the lugger, you heave ho and all that kind of malarky. [...]'1968, Margery Allingham, “The String Man”, in Cargo of Eagles, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC; republished London: Vintage, 2016, →ISBN, page 91: