folderol

[email protected] 14 Dec 2007 10:24:46 -0000
Newsgroups gmane.culture.language.word-of-the-day
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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The Word of the Day for December 14 is:=20

folderol   \FAHL-duh-rahl\   noun
          1 : a useless ornament or accessory : trifle=20
    *2 : nonsense

Example sentence:
          Cherie dismissed the tabloid article as useless folderol.

Did you know?
     Hogwash. Claptrap. Hooey. Drivel. Malarkey. English is rife with wo=
rds that mean "nonsense," and "folderol" is one of the many. Though not =
the most common of the words for nonsense, it's been around since 1820 a=
nd is still heard today. "Folderol" comes from "fol-de-rol" (or "fal-de-=
ral"), which used to be a nonsense refrain in songs, much like "tra-la-l=
a." The oldest recorded instance of someone "singing folderol" occurs in=
 Irish dramatist George Farquhar=E2=80=99s 1701 play _Sir Harry Wildair_=
, in which a character sings, "Fal, al, deral!"





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