codswallop

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In 1876, British soft drink maker Hiram Codd designed and patented a bottle designed specifically for fizzy drinks. Though his Codd-neck bottle was a success in the fizzy drink industry, alcohol drinkers disparaged Codd's invention, often saying it was only good for "wallop" (a slang term for beer in the late-19th century). The term soon became "Codd's Wallop" and was eventually used for anything of low-quality or rubbish.

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You're just a fount of information!

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PBS without pledge drives, I say.

Go Dys (insert emoticon)

RH

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Mame wrote:

You're just a fount of information!

advocate wrote;
"As is the wont of stupid people, Dys lacks a sense of humor."

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Advocate's talking out his a$$.

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My Lone Star beer might thusly be described.

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The trouble with this explanation of "codswallop" is that there is no evidence - none whatsoever - that it was ever used in relation to drinks bottled in Hiram Codd's bottles. or indeed that the word existed at all until a generation after the Codd bottle had gone out of use. The first sighting of the word dates from 1963!

In other words, this is an urban legend.

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syntinen

syntinen wrote:

The trouble with this explanation of "codswallop" is that there is no evidence - none whatsoever - that it was ever used in relation to drinks bottled in Hiram Codd's bottles. or indeed that the word existed at all until a generation after the Codd bottle had gone out of use. The first sighting of the word dates from 1963!

In other words, this is an urban legend.

Urban legends are important. It makes them urbaners think.

BBB :wink:

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syntinen wrote:

The trouble with this explanation of "codswallop" is that there is no evidence - none whatsoever - that it was ever used in relation to drinks bottled in Hiram Codd's bottles. or indeed that the word existed at all until a generation after the Codd bottle had gone out of use. The first sighting of the word dates from 1963!

In other words, this is an urban legend.

and your point is?

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syntinen wrote:

The trouble with this explanation of "codswallop" is that there is no evidence - none whatsoever - that it was ever used in relation to drinks bottled in Hiram Codd's bottles. or indeed that the word existed at all until a generation after the Codd bottle had gone out of use. The first sighting of the word dates from 1963!

In other words, this is an urban legend.

Not to split hairs, but the word was used in a British radio programme back in 1959, by a famous comedian and writer named Tony Hancock. He would almost certainly have been using common language of the day, so there's a very good chance that the word would have been very familiar to the radio listeners, which would mean that it had been in common usage for quite a few years.

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From the website:

Other "Wordhunt" mysteries remain unsolved:

Can you prove you bonked before 1975?

Did you play on a bouncy castle before 1986?

Did you sport a mullet hairstyle before 1994 - and why was it named after a fish?

Any evidence for posh before 1915 or proof that it was (or wasn't) Port Out, Starboard Home?

Did anyone you know pop their clogs before 1977, and why?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/01_january/20/piffle.shtml

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codswallop

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