Bullshit

A compound of 'bull' and 'shit,' first attested in the early 20th century. The 'bull' element has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate. One line of analysis traces it to Old French boul ('fraud, deceit'), which would make 'bullshit' a tautological intensifier meaning roughly 'fraudulent nonsense.' An alternative and more widely accepted derivation connects it simply to the male bovine, with bovine excrement serving as a metaphor for something abundant, worthless, and unavoidable. The shortening 'bull' as a standalone term for nonsense predates the compound form and was in use by the early 1900s.

The term was circulated widely in American military contexts during the First World War, where it functioned as a blunt descriptor for official rhetoric perceived as disconnected from the realities of trench life. By the mid-20th century, it had permeated civilian usage across registers, from barroom conversation to political commentary. The word received an unusual degree of academic attention in 2005 with the publication of philosopher Harry Frankfurt's essay 'On Bullshit,' originally written in 1986, which argued that bullshit is distinct from lying in that the liar knows the truth and seeks to conceal it, while the bullshitter is fundamentally indifferent to truth altogether. This philosophical treatment brought the term into mainstream intellectual discourse and bestseller lists. In broadcast media, the word remained largely censored through the 20th century, though its truncated forms ('bull,' 'BS') were freely employed as transparent substitutes. The Penn & Teller television program 'Bullshit!' (2003-2010) marked a notable moment in its broadcast normalization.

The term has followed a trajectory of gradual destigmatization across the 20th and 21st centuries. It was considered strongly vulgar through the mid-20th century, sufficient to be excluded from print journalism and broadcast media. By the 1970s, it appeared with increasing frequency in film dialogue and literary fiction. The FCC has historically treated it as indecent for broadcast television, though cable and streaming platforms have imposed no such restrictions. In contemporary usage, it is widely regarded as crude but not deeply offensive, occupying a position comparable to 'shit' or 'crap' in broadcast standards hierarchies. Its philosophical canonization through Frankfurt's work has arguably contributed to its destigmatization in formal registers.

The term is universal across English-speaking regions, though its frequency and register vary. In American English, it is pervasive across all social classes and regions, functioning as both a noun and a verb with equal fluency. British English speakers employ it but may favor 'bollocks' or 'rubbish' in equivalent contexts. Australian English uses it freely, often shortened to 'BS' or 'bull' in mixed company. The verb form ('to bullshit') and the agent noun ('bullshitter') are more characteristically American constructions.