"One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit", is how Professor Harry Frankfurt, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, starts his book called 'On Bullshit' published by the Princeton University Press. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7929.html
Frankfurt makes the important distinction between lying, bullshit and bull.
Lying is knowingly telling an untruth with the intention to deceive.
Bullshit can be two things, either pretending to know the truth when you don't; or being careless, or expansive, with the truth in order to persuade someone of something you want them to believe. In both cases there's an intention to deceive.
Talking Bull, on the other hands, is an innocent pastime, intended to deceive no one. Talking bull is where a group of people, usually male, talk off the top of their heads in an environment where the convention is that no one holds anyone else to account for their statements. This is a creative, idea-floating, running with ideas and developing and embroidering them, sort of conversation.
Talking bull is what we, in England, call talking bollox.
Interestingly, although bollox is, I suppose, derived from balls, it doesn't mean the same. Talking balls means talking nonsense.
But talking bollox means letting the intellect and the imagination wander and the ideas flow.
The resultant ideas may be balls, but they could be bollox.
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Comments (6)
Bollox
Posted by PeterChesham | April 18, 2007 2:44 PM
Posted on April 18, 2007 14:44
It takes a PR guy to appreciate that, Peter.
Posted by David Manners | April 19, 2007 11:46 AM
Posted on April 19, 2007 11:46
Dear David,
I don't know how I got to this site,- I was researching the Anglo-Saxpn calendar, but, I think your usage is North of England. Down here in Lunnun, "talking bollox' means a load of nonsense, "talking THE bollox"
means you should listen, as it's making sense.
JIM
Posted by JIM | October 15, 2007 12:25 AM
Posted on October 15, 2007 00:25
Funny, down the pub with my mates (in west London) we often sit and talk bollocks over several beers, exactly how David meant it.
Isn't the English language wonderful?
Posted by Ian Dedic | October 23, 2007 2:21 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 14:21
Is it fair to say that talking "complete bollocks" can generally be taken to mean that you may have missed the point.
Posted by Hari | May 27, 2008 1:10 PM
Posted on May 27, 2008 13:10
Not exactly missing the point, more like talking imaginatively without doing much of a reality-check. Some bollox is vey much to the point. Most, probably, not.
Posted by david manners | May 27, 2008 5:55 PM
Posted on May 27, 2008 17:55