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Unknown. Attested from a 1959 episode of the UK TV seriesHancock's Half Hour. The writers (Galton and Simpson) state that the phrase was in general use when the show was broadcast.[1][2] A national TV appeal in the UK in 2006 failed to find earlier references,[1] though a humorous newspaper column from 1947 does use the fictional name "Sir Aubrey Codswallop".[3] Originally written (1963)codswallop; the spellingcod's wallop is later.
Various etymologies are proposed from some sense ofcod, such as fromcod(“joke, imitation”) +-s- +wallop(“beer”)(slang), hence “imitation beer” (withinterconsonantal-s- to ease pronunciation of-dw-), or fromcod(“scrotum, as incodpiece”) +-s- +wallop(“to hit”), hence “to hit (with) the testicle bag,” or fromcod(“fish”), hence perhaps some part of the fish, as used in the fishing industry.
A frequently given etymology, although widely rejected as afolk etymology, derives it fromHiram Codd, British soft drink maker of the 1870s, known for the eponymousCodd-neck bottle, with the suggestion thatcodswallop is a derisive term for soft drinks by beer drinkers, fromCodd’s +wallop(“beer”), thus sarcastically “Codd’s beer”. There is no evidence that early uses had this sense; the slang termwallop(“beer”) appeared after Codd’s lifetime,[1] initial spellings (in print from 1963) do not reflect such a derivation (*Codd’s wallop and*coddswallop with-dd- are not found), and there is an 80-year gap between the proposed coinage and attestation.
This is also the name given to the wooden device placed over the neck of a codd bottle and given a push (wallop) to dislodge the marble in the neck of the bottle. The word has also been used to describe the process of opening a codd bottle.
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codswallop (uncountable)
codswallop