|
Bullshit (also bullcrap) is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism BS. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive, although "bullshit" is more common. It is mostly a slang profanity term meaning "nonsense", especially in a rebuking response to communication or actions viewed as deceiving, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false. As with many expletives, the term can be used as an interjection or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings. It can be used either as a noun or as a verb as in the question "are you bullshitting me?". While the word is generally used in a deprecating sense, it may imply a measure of respect for language skills, or frivolity, among various other benign usages. In philosophy, Harry Frankfurt, among others, analyzed the concept of bullshit as related to but distinct from lying. Outside of the philosophical and discursive studies, the everyday phrase ''bullshit'' conveys a measure of dissatisfaction with something or someone, but often does not describe any role of truth in the matter. ==Etymology== "Bull", meaning nonsense, dates from the 17th century,〔''Concise Oxford English Dictionary''〕 while the term "bullshit" has been used as early as 1915 in American slang, and came into popular usage only during World War II. The word "bull" itself may have derived from the Old French ''boul'' meaning "fraud, deceit".〔 The term "horseshit" is a near synonym. The South African English equivalent is "bull dust". The earliest attestation mentioned by the ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'' is in fact T. S. Eliot, who between 1910 and 1916 wrote an early poem to which he gave the title "The Triumph of Bullshit", written in the form of a ballade. The word bullshit does not appear in the text of the poem, and Eliot himself never published the poem.〔Eliot, T. S. ''Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917'' (Harcourt, 1997) ISBN 0-15-100274-6〕 As to earlier etymology the Oxford English Dictionary cites ''bull'' with the meaning ''"trivial, insincere, untruthful talk or writing, nonsense"''. It describes this usage as being of unknown origin, but notes that in Old French, the word could mean ''"boul, boule, bole fraud, deceit, trickery; mod. Icel bull 'nonsense'; also ME bull BUL 'falsehood', and BULL verb, to befool, mock, cheat."'' Although there is no confirmed etymological connection, it should be noted that these older meanings are synonymous with the modern expression "bull", generally considered and used as a contraction of "bullshit" Another proposal, according to the lexicographer Eric Partridge, is that the term was popularised by the Australian and New Zealand troops from about 1916 arriving at the front during World War I. Partridge claims that the British commanding officers' placed emphasis on ''bull''; that is, attention to appearances, even when it was a hindrance to waging war. The foreign Diggers allegedly ridiculed the British by calling it bullshit. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bullshit」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|