1920s Slang For Nonsense (Helpful Content!)

Common slang terms for nonsense used in the 1920s included terms like “baloney” or “phonus balonus”. Many other common terms you’ll still hear today either got started or were already used in the 1920s, such as balderdash, hooey, drivel or blather. Which ones you would hear would depend where you were, and these were most common in the U.S.

There were many slang terms for nonsense in the 1920s, then, but these were by far the most common.

Slang of the 1920s was highly idiomatic, and so many of these terms either got started or were massively popularized during the 1920s.

Let’s find out more.

What were words for nonsense in the 1920s?

Common slang terms for nonsense in the 1920s were words like “baloney” or “hooey”.

There were many different terms used at the time, and most of them still endure today to some extent.

“Baloney” is perhaps the most idiomatically 1920s slang term for nonsense, though it was most commonly used in the U.S. rather than anywhere else.

That said, it did ultimately spread to other parts of the world, particularly through popular American movies.

“What a load of baloney!” for example.

A similar term that was used in the 1920s for nonsense was “phonus balonus”.

This humorous phrase was used when someone was saying some phoney nonsense, though this one was definitely a lot less common than the simple “baloney”.

It’s really not used at all today, though most people could probably figure out its intended meaning through context.

“Everything he says is phonus balonus,” for example.

Beyond these terms, most of the common terms you’ll hear for nonsense today were used in the 1920s.

“Balderdash” was a common one, and though not as widely used in the U.S. as in England, it was widely understood and did take off to some extent in 1920s America.

“You are talking balderdash, that’s not true,” for example.

Generic slang terms would also be used in the 1920s, such as “drivel” or “blather”.

Again, these were mostly reserved for spoken nonsense, and something you’d say in response to something people said rather than something they wrote down.

This was not by any means a hard and fast rule, though, and it could be used of poetry, novels, or even philosophical treatises.

Clearly, there were many different terms for nonsense at this time—so where did they all come from?

Why did people say “baloney” in the 1920s?

Baloney was without doubt the most quintessentially 1920s slang term for nonsense, as mentioned used primarily in the U.S. but also elsewhere.

It is first attested in 1922 in America, so we know that it is very much a piece of 1920s slang.

It was popularized later on by Governor Alfred Smith of New York.

It’s most commonly associated with the “bologna” or baloney sausage that was popular in America at this time.

However, others believe it instead related to the word “blarney”.

This was a term for an idiot earlier even than the 1920s, and so it’s thought that the term “baloney” for nonsense was instead derived from this word.

Idiots, after all, would often talk a lot of baloney!

Why did people say “phonus balonus” in the 1920s?

One which certainly sounds very similar is “phonus balonus,” a common term used in the United States either for silly nonsense or for a very stupid, dim-witted person.

It is meant to sound like Latin, though of course it is not really Latin.

Nonsense would also sometimes be called “Phoney baloney”, and so this “cod-Latin” term arose out of this phrase.

It was, as mentioned, intended as a humorous phrase, sounding Latin and clever though really just being a silly nonsense term in itself.

Why did people say “balderdash” in the 1920s?

The term “balderdash” was quite old even by the 1920s, having been in use since at least the 16^th Century.

However, at first it referred to a frothy liquid, and eventually a horrible mixture of drinks.

Later on, then, it came to mean something like “a big mixture of nonsense” in the sense of someone just speaking things that weren’t true.

This, as mentioned, was far more common in Britain than the U.S., but you would certainly still hear it in the U.S.

It became a lot more popular during the 1920s, too, for reasons that aren’t very well understood.

Why did people say “hooey” in the 1920s?

Though we can say with confidence that the term “hooey” was first used during the 1920s, it is again a term whose origin we don’t know.

It was really not used at all before the 1920s, though it took off enormously during this time and became a very popular slang term for nonsense.

This one was more or less limited to the United States, although it would be heard just about everywhere throughout the States.

It just meant any kind of senseless, nonsense talk, usually when someone was telling a story that obviously wasn’t true or speaking things that didn’t make any sense.

Nonsense was something that no one was willing to put up with in the 1920s—if someone heard you talking nonsense, you’d better believe they would be calling you out on your baloney.

Many of these terms were most common in the U.S., though you would hear them in many parts of the English speaking world, too.

Indeed, most of them still endure today.

More in 1920s Slang

• 1920s Slang For Alcohol
• 1920s Slang For Cool
• 1920s Slang For Crazy
• 1920s Slang For Dancing
• 1920s Slang For Fun
• 1920s Slang For Man
• 1920s Slang For Money
• 1920s Slang For Nonsense
• 1920s Slang For Party
• 1920s Slang For Police
• 1920s Slang For Woman