Codswallop Meaning
By jayita, Gaea News NetworkSaturday, January 30, 2010
LONDON (GaeaTimes.com) — Codswallop is primarily a British English word. It means “Nonsense”. It’s an interjection, having an unclear origin.
A popular etymology said, the origin of the word is associated with the name of Hiram Codd, an English soft drink maker, who developed a technique for bottling lemonade. This process involved the insertion of a glass marble as a stopper into the neck of the bottle. The device was called, not unreasonably, the Codd Bottle. Though his Codd-neck bottle was a success in the fizzy drink industry, alcohol drinkers were disdainful to Codd’s invention, often saying it was only good for “wallop” (Wallop is a slang term for beer). The term soon became “Codd’s Wallop” and was eventually used for anything of low-quality or rubbish.
The term appears in the 1959 episode of the UK TV series ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’.
In 2009 British animation team The Brothers McLeod were nominated in the Short Animation category of the BAFTA Film Awards for their film entitled ‘Codswallop’.
