pile of whaleshit
- noun
- Offensive
:
montón de mierda
- Don’t give me that pile of whaleshit—I know exactly what happened.
Examples
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She dismissed the rumor as a pile of whaleshit and refused to believe it.
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He said it was true, but it's really a pile of whaleshit.
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Everything he told us was just a pile of whaleshit from start to finish.
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That's a pile of whaleshit!
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Don't give me that pile of whaleshit—I know exactly what happened.
-
Everything he told us was just a pile of whaleshit from start to finish.
-
She dismissed the rumor as a pile of whaleshit and refused to believe it.
Synonyms
45
9.9
Things people say or do that are false and rude
16
7.4
Untrue or silly talk that people should not believe
10
9.9
Silly talk that is not true
3
9.9
A statement that is completely untrue and makes no sense
3
9.9
A silly idea or story that is not true
2
9.9
A rude expression that says something is not true
1
6.0
Things people say that are completely untrue or pointless
Something very silly and not true
Talk that is false and hard to believe
A story or idea that is untrue and silly
Antonyms
How Ridiculous
Surface Forms
Morphology
pile + of + whaleshit
A learner who knows 'pile', 'whale' and 'shit' can reconstruct a literal sense ('a heap of whale feces') and thereby infer a negative or worthless referent, so part of the meaning is recoverable from the parts. However, the shift to the idiomatic sense 'a large amount of nonsense' relies on vulgar figurative use of 'shit' and the creative intensifier 'whaleshit', which is culturally marked and not fully predictable for B1 learners, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
Pile of whaleshit gives a clear image: a very big, gross pile of whaleshit left by a giant whale. Because the pile is so big and absurd, people use it to call something 'complete nonsense' or 'untrue'.