Talk:Bollocks

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Contents 1 Wiktionary? 2 a Load of Bollocks 3 Inaccuracy 4 Alternative spellings 5 Game 6 Fantastic 7 lovely page 8 objectivity? 9 Dog's Bollox 10 Reorg 11 the dog's bollocks 12 Cleanup? Surely not! 13 Euphemisms 14 Bollocks: They Make a Lovely Stew 15 Another usage: 16 Wilma Flintstone nand John Wayne 17 Someone please rewrite this 18 References/citations 19 Brilliant 20 could we have another entry? 21 Where's the Lobster song? 22 the Irish usage? 23 Similarity to bullshit 24 Management bollocks 25 Missing the point? 26 Not a serious page 27 US Censorship 28 Tone? 29 Bollocks.com.au

[edit] Wiktionary?

Move to Wiktionary.org, or is there even enough here? Jwrosenzweig 19:34, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

There is now.:) Jamesday 23:25, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] a Load of Bollocks

I think this article is a a load of bollocks Dainamo 09:22, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC) ;)

[edit] Inaccuracy

There is so much inaccuracy in the bollocks page. A lot of the sample phrases read like hooray henries trying to put on working class speech and failing.

[edit] Alternative spellings

Regarding the "Alternative Spelling" paragraph it is bollocks to assume that people who use the word "bollix" are bollixes who do not understand the meaning of bollocks. Finally, a term of Irish origin is "me bollix" as said by Brad Pitt's character "Mickey", the gypo, in the movie "Snatch". It is used when some bollix states something that you think is total bollocks. To this statement you reply "Ah me bollix!!!" Squawk1er 20:43, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

What about "Yer ballax", as in "You're talking shite".Jonathan3 22:28, 17 August 2006 (UTC) P.S. I'm not saying that's the correct spelling - it's just how it sounds!

[edit] Game

Perhaps we should mention the "bollocks game" where school children compete to shout "bollocks" the loudest in the presence of a teacher - Chris Owen

I agree. I will now do so. I'm drunk. I think that's somehow appropriate. PeteVerdon 01:30, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think some parallels should be drawn with Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, a kids TV show whereby they shout "bogies". violet/riga (t) 11:04, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

I agree. I'm 22, and I love that game :-)

Would it be obvious to point out that we're all talking bollocks?

[edit] Fantastic

Check the title bar of your web browser. -RadioElectric

[edit] lovely page

This entry really is the canines gonads. It is such a relief to read this after dealing with wiki inventions such as 'disambiguificationisation page' when this page gets relegated elsewhere by some stiff necked US neocon then I will know that wiki has finaly got its pedia stuck up its jacksy.

Hear, hear. It is informative and funny, and all the more brilliant for being unexpectedly so. TobyJ 15:21, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Hear Hear again... see my entry below. Some yankee twerp will no doubt end up accusing me of plagiarism !! Peterkirchem 23:26, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

• BOLLOX!!!!!

Phew, just finished laughing! Funniest wiki article I've ever read. --PaulWicks 11:41, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] objectivity?

Perhaps this page is intended to be more of a humorous thing than a serious article, but shouldn't sentences like "An excellent ska band from Atlanta, Georgia uses the Dog's Bollocks as a name for their band" be revised [or, in the case of this particular sentence, perhaps completely removed] to be more objective? --PryItOpen 22:47, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

I agree that the eulogy to the ska band is out of place and I'll tone down the reference. If people find this article entertaining, that's fine, but note that this page is now the best resource on the web for one of the most popular (and most versatile) British slang terms. -- Xollob 14 October 2005

Amen to that, and all power to my (I'm sure British) Wiki colleagues for this item. Peter Maggs 22:19, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

Wondering if anyone knows who put up the reference to the atlanta ska band? It was noone from the band as none of us know who did it. Just post in the talk page, as I'm wondering. --Xshare 00:21, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dog's Bollox

According to QI this term came about from "Box Deluxe", with "Box Standard" converting to "Bog Standard". violet/riga (t) 11:04, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

If I may, that sounds like bollocks. -- ALoan (Talk) 20:01, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Reorg

Did some badly needed reorg on this page today - hope I haven't upset anyone. -- Xollob 31 October 2005

[edit] the dog's bollocks

How about a link to [1]Viz?

[edit] Cleanup? Surely not!

I see this article has been tagged as needing a cleanup. I think it is one of the best I have found on Wikipedia and am at a loss to see what needs cleaning up. Bluewave 18:22, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

I've just removed the cleanup tag. The article has had a lot of work done on it since the tag was added (Oct 05). Any objections? Bluewave 08:59, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Euphemisms

I offer the following critique of the euphemisms section. I am tempted to delete large parts of it but wanted to get other opinions first:

Balderdash: I don't think it belongs here. It is a great word in its own right, but it is not a euphemism for bollocks. It has no anatomical connotations; it can only be substituted for one very specific use of bollocks; when someone says "balderdash" it doesn't sound like they really meant "bollocks".

Horlicks: This is genuinely a euphemism and certainly deserves a place in the article. I have also heard words like "Hollyhocks" but can't cite an exact source (Ronnie Barker possibly?)

Nadgers: Another great word and it does have anatomical connotations but, again, its not really a euphemism for bollocks: it's just an alternative, milder, word for testicles. Also I'm not sure how widely it is used, apart from Rambling Syd.

Perhaps not strictly a euphemism but I think it deserves a mention if only for the phrase 'the badger's nadgers', which is clearly based on 'the dog's bollocks'. Bombot 00:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

B6s: I've never heard this. Is there a reference?

What do the experts amongst you think? Bluewave 09:39, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

"Badger's nadgers" is certainly a well-known bollocks euphemism, might it be worth adding "mutt's nuts" or "poodle's plums" aswell? as for "B6s", I've never heard that and my gut feel is that it's made up. There's always a temptation on a page called bollocks to fill it with the same.

B6s is certainly used in internal emails in the (German) company I work for, obviously mainly by the British ex-pats.--Xollob 21:16, 5 July 2006 (UTC)Xollob

[edit] Bollocks: They Make a Lovely Stew

Am I alone in remembering this? Ben-w 12:58, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Another usage:

As a descriptive synonym for a "lesser of two evils" type situation, as in "It beats a boot up the bollocks." -- to which phrase may be added: "--although not by much." I heard a "clean" variant on this one the other day: "It beats a toe in the ovals." --Grundlepod 18:03, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wilma Flintstone nand John Wayne

Somewhere in the archives of the Wikipedia:Reference Desk there is a discussion about the use of the word by Wilma and John Wayne. It appears that a form of the word (sounding more like "Bollixed") was in use in the USA at some point, meaning messed-up, havn't been able to dig this out. Jooler 18:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Someone please rewrite this

The article doesn't make sense to me . . . "bollock" used as an adjective to mean both good quality and poor quality? It's not logically possible. Chailai 14:09, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

The distinction is really very clear. Let's say, for example, you go to the theatre and afterwards a friend asks you what the play was like. "It was bollocks" indicates that you didn't like it. "It was the bollocks" shows that you enjoyed it very much. The key is the insertion of the definite article, "the". It's fair to say that you hear the former construction more than the latter in the UK, but both are common.Bedesboy 18:06, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References/citations

This article includes a wealth of nuances of meaning - even to the point that some people don't believe that it is true (see above). I think it would make it more encyclopedic if we could find references that included actual usage, rather than some of the sometimes contrived examples in the text. I'll certainly look out for sightings of bollock usage in books etc. Bluewave 17:50, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Brilliant

This is quite the most brilliant entry on Wikipedia!! To have achieved what so many try and fail.... and that is to get an amusing, informative and slightly tongue in cheek article in under the radar of the faceless Wikipedia Gestapo - seemingly most based in the US - who seem to think "Encyclopedic" means little more than Pedantic, Self-serving and Humourless is very refreshing indeed. Peterkirchem 17:25, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] could we have another entry?

how about: "putting one's bollocks on the anvil" to denote taking a big gamble on a forthcoming event: "I know I'm putting my bollocks on the anvil here..." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.156.187.113 (talk) 17:36, 10 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Where's the Lobster song?

You know... the one about never letting them dangle in the dust? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Poglad (talk • contribs) 13:27, 23 February 2007 (UTC).

Here. Paul Magnussen 21:32, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

http://www.grunt.com/scuttlebutt/corps-stories/humorous/lobster.asp

[edit] the Irish usage?

Ask me bollix! From a minor survey of locals in Dublin it appears that this particular usage means at this point in time my testicles will hold a more valid opinion than myself. A parody considering that ones testicles can't hold any opinion therefore indicating that the subject of the question has no opinion or is highly negative of the suggestion put to them. However I don't believe this usage is unique to the Irish, as recently a Scottish man told me to ask his bollix after I asked him what he was wearing under his kilt. Naturally I declined.

[edit] Similarity to bullshit

Someone has added a few phrases to the introduction, referring to "bullshit" and "the shit", apparently to help "Americans trying to figure out what it means". A few problems with this: firstly "the shit" is a redlink so is probably less helpful than simply reading the "bollocks" article. Secondly, the sentence implies that "bullshit", like "bollocks", can be used in a number of ways including to mean "top quality" or "perfection" (which I don't think is true). Thirdly, it does not do justice to the perceived severity of "bollocks" (number 8 in the survey referred to in the article) compared with "shit" (number 17 in the same survey). The article already references "bullshit" when decribing the negative uses of "bollocks" so I suggest we don't need it in the intro. Bluewave 09:58, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Management bollocks

We should push the envelope of this paradigm and include Management bollocks. There's even a Little Book of Management Bollocks. Totnesmartin 22:15, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Missing the point?

This is well written and nicely captures British/Irish/Australian/etc humour. Let's not be too serious. --Kjb 23:49, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Not a serious page

You have to laugh at most of the above discussions about "bollcocks". If you all have not noticed I don't think this page is too serious and does not require in-depth discussions about the word, if it should be here, usage....... yawn Linux is god (talk) 13:24, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] US Censorship

Would the word bollocks be censored on American television? --Son (talk) 02:22, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

No. Travis T. Cleveland (talk) 06:02, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Tone?

A template has been added suggesting that the tone of the article is inappropriate. Although there are certainly improvements that could be made to the article, and sections that could probably be deleted (what have nadgers got to do with bollocks, for instance?), I can't immediately see what's wrong with the tone. Any suggestions for the kind of thing that needs re-toning? Bluewave (talk) 14:35, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

The tone of most of the article is too informal. And it seems to consist largely of examples of speech. Lurker (said · done) 18:18, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

There are a lot of examples of speech but I think that is reasonable. The word has many shades of meaning (some contradictory) and I think that examples from literature and the media are the best way of providing citations for those meanings. I, for one, have certainly provided quite a few of those citable quotations, with the belief that these were making the article more encyclopaedic. Bluewave (talk) 17:07, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm right with you, Bluewave. I regularly cite this article to sceptical academic colleagues as evidence that Wikipedia has real value. They are invariably impressed, and at least one crusty old English professor of my acquaintance has described it as "outstandingly good". Lurker, if by "informal" you mean "readable and witty" you should get over yourself. The humour doesn't get in the way of any of the scrupulously referenced information. If only more of WP were this good. Bedesboy (talk) 13:34, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Good on you, Bedesboy, you big bollocks. If he doesn't like it, Lurker can stick it up his bollocks. Besides, anyone who highlights their name immediately arouses my suspicions. --OhNoPeedyPeebles (talk) 18:42, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bollocks.com.au

I have removed the following short paragraph from the opening:

_{examples of its usage in this context can be found on the website [hhtp://www.bollocks.com.au bollocks.com.au]. Here, phrases such as "Whaling For Research? Bollocks" express the global belief that the 'scientific' reasoning given by Japanese whalers in defence of their whaling activities is, in fact, nonsense. Similarly, the phrase "Scientology? Bollocks" illustrates the commonly-held view of this pseudo-religion.}

I'm not sure what other people think but it just seem too much like a neologistic form of usage. BpEps - t@lk 06:44, 30 March 2008 (UTC)