horse pucky
1
9.9
- noun
- /hɔrs ˈpʌki/
- Archaic
:
tonterías
- His explanation was just a bunch of horse pucky that didn't make any sense.
Examples
-
Well, I say horse pucky.
Blog text (16) -
The notion that Obama needs to investigate his own White House and his own actions before he can reveal the truth is horse pucky.
Blog text (4) -
Hey, what sort of horse pucky is that?
-
I immediately want to implement a bunch of the horse pucky that caused them to move here in the first place.
Blog text (21) -
That is horse-pucky.
Blog text (23) -
Horse pucky!
-
Horse pucky like that.
Blog text (7) -
What a load of horse pucky! I can't believe anyone believes that.
-
Don't listen to her; that's all horse pucky and you know it.
Synonyms
45
9.9
Things people say or do that are false and rude
10
9.9
Silly talk that is not true
9
9.7
Something not true that people say to fool others
1
9.9
Silly talk or behavior that is not true and should be ignored
1
4.3
A rude informal phrase meaning nonsense or something untrue
1
9.9
Talk that is false or silly
Talk that is false and hard to believe
Talk that is false and makes no sense
Something very silly and not true
A short shout to show you do not believe something or are annoyed
A story or idea that is untrue and silly
Untrue or silly talk that is not important
Antonyms
How Credible
Surface Forms
Morphology
horse + pucky
The meaning 'nonsense' cannot be derived from the literal constituent 'horse' (an animal) combined with 'pucky' (not a standard lexical item here and semantically opaque). This is a slang/idiomatic coinage whose sense is unpredictable from the parts, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal words would not infer the intended meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Horse pucky may come from the image of horse poop: 'pucky' sounded like a word for poop, so calling something horse pucky is like calling it 'horse droppings'. That's why it means 'nonsense' today.