Baloney

Posted by Lewis on September 28, 2007

In Reply to: Bologna sandwich posted by Bob on September 10, 2007

: : The teacher asked, "What use is the comma when writing an essay?" The girl raised her hand and was called on. She explained (in detail) the use of a comma. The teacher rolled his eyes and exclaimed "You are like a bologna sandwich." Is he implying what I think he is? The same thing as saying "you are full of bologna"?

:
: yes

In UK english, the word for nonsense/hot air is said as 'bal-o-ney' - what is written above is Bologna, the Italian place, not the disparaging noun. I think that it comes from the sausage called 'baloney' which, Wiki claims, in turn may be named based on the use of the French name for Bologna used as disparaging word for nonsense because Bologna was renowned as a centre of legal education! legal jargon = nonsense/rubbish.

the assumption was that baloney sausage was made with rubbish ingredients - hence baloney being rubbish.

The Italian name for the sausage in question is "Mortadella", which is how it is usually referred to these days, which is why I couldn't remember exactly what baloney was like.

I suppose it all goes back to Shakespeare - as worthless as a word in the mouth of an un-feed lawyer...