Baloney

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bəˈləʊni/

Definitions

1. Words or ideas that are absurd or untrue ; a type of sausage made from finely ground meat, often beef or pork
2. Statements that are silly, false, or deceptive ; a soft, cooked meat product usually sliced for sandwiches
3. Claims lacking sense or truth ; a highly processed luncheon meat, typically pink and smooth in texture

Etymology: "Baloney" is a phonetic spelling of "bologna," the name of the Italian city and the sausage associated with it. The sausage name is the clear starting point: the spelling was reshaped to match how the word was spoken, and that spoken form became the familiar American term for the pre-sliced meat used in sandwiches. The nonsense sense is murkier. One possibility is that it grew from a Polari slang word, "balonie," used in the British gay slang of the twentieth century, though the link is not firmly established. Another is that "bologna" itself, the sausage, was used as a minced oath, a milder substitute for "bullshit." In that case the sausage became a stand-in for empty talk, and the word's meaning shifted from meat to nonsense. The exact route remains uncertain, so the two sense lines may simply be a case of one word's sound being reused in unrelated ways.

Synonyms: nonsense, rubbish, absurdity

Antonyms: truth, fact