applesauce Nonsense, balderdash, bunk; lies and exaggeration; flattery and sweet talk. The first of these meanings is now most common, and the last, least in use. According to a 1929 article in Century Magazine, however, the term originally meant “a camouflage of flattery” and derived from the common practice of boarding houses to serve an abundance of applesauce to divert awareness from the paucity of more nourishing fare. It seems equally plausible, though, that its origin might lie in the association of applesauce with excessive sweetness, mushiness, pulpiness, and insubstantiality.

balderdash Nonsense; a meaningless jumble of words. Used throughout most of the 17th century to mean a hodgepodge of liquors, this word began to be used in its current sense in the latter part of the same century.

banana oil Bunk, hokum, hogwash, nonsense. This American slang term for insincere talk derives from the literal banana oil, a synthetic compound used as a paint solvent and in artificial fruit flavors, itself so called because its odor resembles that of bananas. Its figurative use combines its characteristics of excessive sweetness and unctuousness.

bunkum Empty or insincere talk, especially that of a politician aiming to satisfy local constituents; humbug; nonsense; also buncombe or the shortened slang form bunk; sometimes in the phrase talk or speak for or to Buncombe. The term comes from a speech made by Felix Walker, who served in Congress from 1817 to 1823. It was so long and dull that many members left. The exodus of his fellow Congressmen did not bother Mr. Walker in the least since he was, in his own words, bound “to make a speech for Buncombe,” a North Carolina county in his district. Bunk, the abbreviated slang version of bunkum, did not appear until 1900, although bunkum itself dates from much earlier:

cock and bull story A preposterous, improbable story presented as the truth; tall tale, canard, or incredible yarn; stuff and nonsense. Few sources acknowledge that the exact origin of this phrase is unknown. Most say it derives from old fables in which cocks, bulls, and other animals are represented as conversational creatures. In one of the Boyle Lectures in 1692 Richard Bentley says:

Matthew Prior’s Riddle on Beauty clearly shows the nonsensical flavor of “cock and bull”:

The phrase is current today, as are the truncated slang forms—cock in Britain and bull in the United States—which mean ‘nonsense.’

fiddlesticks Nonsense, hogwash, balderdash. This word is virtually synonymous with fiddle-de-dee and fiddle-faddle. Literally, a fiddlestick is the bow used to play a fiddle. Figuratively, it is often used as an interjectional reply to a totally absurd statement.

moonshine Nonsense, hogwash; foolish notions or conceptions. Moonshine is the light which, although appearing to be generated by the moon, is actually sunlight reflected off the lunar surface; hence, the expression’s figurative connotation of illusion or fallacy.

tommyrot Nonsense, poppycock, balderdash. This expression combines tommy ‘simpleton, fool,’ with rot ‘worthless matter’ to form a word denoting foolish utterances.