baloney English · revision 1269

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bəˈləʊni/ ''(UK)''; /bəˈloʊni/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a variant of [[bologna]], the sausage,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) reflecting its popular pronunciation,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) from Bologna in Italy.^(Barnhart 1995) Etymonline notes that the slang sense may have been influenced by [[blarney]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a spelling of ''bologna'' sausage (1894).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By 1915 the word meant an idiot,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) and around 1920 an inferior prizefighter.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The sense of nonsense is recorded from 1922,^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) and was popularized in the early 1930s by Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York.^(Etymonline) Barnhart suggests the sense came from the sausage as a type made of odds and ends,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) following a long habit of applying food words to people, such as ''ham'' and ''pudding-head''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1894 – spelling of ''bologna''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1915 – an idiot.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)

+ * 1920 – an inferior boxer.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1922 – nonsense.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1928 – the OED's and Barnhart's date for nonsense.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Pretentious nonsense; [[bunkum]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[bologna|alt=Bologna]] sausage.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Interjection===

+ # Nonsense!^(RHWU)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[phony-baloney]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bologna]]

+ * [[blarney]]

+ * [[bunkum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}