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That’s Balderdash!
​And Other Words
​of Utter Nonsense


​NONSENSE - the earliest definition of the noun in 1612 states that nonsense is:“words or language having no meaning or conveying no intelligible ideas”

Other definitions include:
  • lacking in sense, language or words without meaning or conveying absurd or ridiculous ideas
  • an idea, something said or written, or behaviour that is silly or stupid
  • language that cannot be understood because it does not mean anything
  • ​language, conduct, or an idea that is absurd or contrary to good sense.
  • an instance of absurd action
  • things of no importance or value.
  • affected or impudent conduct

As an adjective, it was defined in 1670 as “consisting of an arbitrary grouping of speech sounds or symbols.”

ETYMOLOGY: Middle English from the word ‘non’ meaning “no, none, lack of” and ‘sense’ borrowed from Old French sens, sen, san meaning “sense, reason, direction,” partly from the Latin ‘sensus‘ meaning ”sensation, feeling, meaning.” Perhaps influenced by the French ‘nonsens.’ Since mid-20c., non-sense, with the hyphen, has been used to distinguish the meaning "that which is not sense, that which is different from sense," not implying absurdity.

​CLOSEST RELATIVES
The closest relative is nonsensical. It’s simply defined as “ (of words or language) having little or no meaning; making little or no sense.” Another close relative of nonsense is gibberish. Gibberish, also called jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense. It may include speech sounds that are not actual words, or language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsiders.
  • ​Gibberish is also used as an imprecation to denigrate ideas or opinions the user disagrees with or finds irksome, a rough equivalent of "nonsense", "folderol", or "claptrap". The implication is that the criticized expression or proposition lacks substance, as opposed to simply being a differing view. The related word jibber-jabber refers to rapid talk that is difficult to understand.
  • ​The etymology of gibberish is uncertain. The term was first seen in English in the early 16th century. It is generally thought to be an onomatopoeia imitative of speech, similar to the words jabber (to talk rapidly) and gibber (to speak inarticulately).[ It may originate from the word jib, which is the variant of the Romani language word meaning "language" or "tongue".

Another relative is the term “gobbledygook”, coined by Maury Maverick, a former congressman from Texas and former mayor of San Antonio during WW2. When Maverick was chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II, he sent a memorandum that said: "Be short and use plain English. ... Stay off gobbledygook language. Maverick defined gobbledygook as "talk or writing which is long, pompous, vague, involved, usually with Latinized words." The allusion was to a turkey, "always gobbledygobbling and strutting with ridiculous pomposity.

​NONSENSE USAGE
​Many poets, novelists and songwriters have used nonsense in their works, often creating entire works using it for reasons ranging from pure comic amusement or satire, to illustrating a point about language or reasoning.

​The phrase "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" was coined by Noam Chomsky as an example of nonsense. The individual words make sense and are arranged according to proper grammatical rules, yet the result is nonsense. The inspiration for this attempt came from the idea of contradiction and seemingly irrelevant and/or incompatible characteristics. These conspire to make the phrase meaningless, but are open to interpretation. The phrase "the square root of Tuesday" operates on this principle.

​EXAMPLES OF NONSENSE VERSE
​James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake uses nonsense: full of portmanteau (word blending) and strong words, it appears to have multiple layers of meaning, but in many passages it is difficult to say whether any interpretation of a text could be as intended or not.
  • ​The nonsense verse Jabberwocky, found in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871), is a nonsense poem written in English. The word jabberwocky is also occasionally used as a synonym of nonsense.
  • ​Nonsense verse is the verse form of literary nonsense, a genre that can manifest in many other ways. Its best-known example is Edward Lear, author of The Owl and the Pussycat and hundreds of limericks.
  • Nonsense verse is part of a long line of tradition predating Lear: the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle could also be termed a nonsense verse.
  • Lewis Carroll, seeking a nonsense riddle, once posed the question How is a raven like a writing desk?. Someone answered him saying because Poe wrote on both a raven and a desk. However, there are other possible answers (e.g. both have inky quills).
  • Lines of nonsense frequently figure in the refrains of folksongs, where nonsense riddles and knock-knock jokes are often encountered.

Example of Nonsense Verse

The first verse of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll;

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

NONSENSE WORDS


​ACKAMARACKUS - pretentious or deceptive nonsense

BABOONERY - foolishness; stupidity; nonsense

BALDERDASH - nonsense; a jumble of words

BALLYHOO - bombastic or pretentious nonsense

BALONEY - humbug; nonsense

BAMBOSH - deceptive nonsense

BILGE - lower point of inner hull of a ship; nonsense or rubbish

BLAGUE - humbug; pretentious nonsense

BLARNEY - skilful flattery; nonsense

BLETHERSKATE - a garrulous talker of nonsense

BRIMBORION - worthless nonsense; trash

BUGABOO - loud or empty nonsense

BUNCOMBE - speech-making intended for the mass media; humbug

BUNK - nonsense; humbug

BUSHWA - nonsense

CACKRUBBISH - worthless nonsense

CLAPTRAP - showy language designed to gain praise; nonsense

CLATFART - idle chatter; nonsense

CODSWALLOP - something utterly senseless; nonsense

EFFUTIATION - twaddle; humbug

EYEWASH - humbug; something done merely for effect

FADOODLE - nonsense

FALDERAL - nonsense; meaningless refrain of a song

FANDANGLE - pretentious tomfoolery

FIDDLEDEDEE - nonsense

FIDDLE-FADDLE - trifling talk

FLAM - humbug; trickery

FLANNEL - ostentatious nonsense

FLAPDOODLE - gross flattery; nonsense

FLIMFLAM - nonsense; trickery

FLUMMADIDDLE - nonsense; humbug

FLUMMERY - anything insipid; empty compliment; humbug

FRIBBLE - frivolous nonsense; a trifling thing or person

FUSTIAN - pretentious writing or speech; inflated or nonsensical language

GALBANUM - nonsense; a kind of gum resin

GALIMATIAS - nonsense; confused mixture of unrelated things

GAMMON - to feign an action; perpetrate a hoax on; nonsense, rubbish

GIBBERISH - nonsense talk

GRIMGRIBBER - learned gibberish; legal jargon

HAVER - foolish nonsense

HIBBER-GIBBER - gibberish

HOGWASH - nonsense; worthless idea

HOOEY - nonsense; humbug

HUMBUG - nonsense

JABBERWOCK - nonsense, gibberish

JIGGERY-POKERY - deceptive or manipulative humbug

KELTER - nonsense

KIDOLOGY - deceptive trickery; nonsense

LINSEY-WOOLSEY - coarse inferior wool or wool-flax weave; nonsense or confusion

MACARONI - nonsense; foolishness

MALARKEY - humbug; nonsense

MOROLOGY - nonsense

MULLOCK - nonsense; rubbish

MUMBO-JUMBO - obscure nonsense

NARRISCHKEIT - foolishness; nonsense

NUGAMENT - nonsense; trifle

PHONUS-BOLONUS - exaggerated trickery or nonsense

PIDDLE - nonsense

PIGWASH - rubbish; nonsense

POPPYCOCK - humbug; nonsense

POSH - nonsense

QUATSCH - nonsense

RANNYGAZOO - foolish nonsense
​
RAZZMATAZZ - meaningless talk; hype; nonsense

RHUBARB - nonsense; actors' nonsense background chatter

RIDDLE-ME-REE - nonsense language

ROTTACK - rubbish; nonsense

SCHMEGEGGY - nonsense; an idiot

SHUCK - nonsense

SKITTLES - rubbish; nonsense

SLIPSLOP - nonsensical talk

SPINACH - nonsense

SQUIT - silly talk; nonsense; an insignificant person

STULTILOQUENCE - foolish or senseless talk
​
TARADIDDLE - senseless talk; deception; nonsense

TOOTLE - nonsensical writing or speech

TOSH - rubbish, drivel; nonsense

TRUMPERY - deception; trickery; showy nonsense
​
TWADDLE - rubbish; nonsense

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