I Swear English › Vocabulary A–Z › Bullshit
What does ‘Bullshit’ mean?
Related forms: Slang
Bullshit is a strong way to say that something is wrong or very bad. It is often used as an interjection immediately after another person says something that we strongly disagree with. Note that this is fairly rude.
“A: "The world is flat." B: "Bullshit!"”.
“"Stop talking bullshit, it can't be true"”.
“This new law about not smoking in bars is bullshit”.
To bullshit is a verb meaning to talk bullshit, rubbish or nonsense, to give opinions about things you are ignorant of. It can even be used figuratively to indicate that someone is joking.
“Most bar room philosophers”.
“"Stop bullshitting and tell me the truth."”.
Watch: ‘Bullshit’ explained
Video transcript
Hi there. B is for Bullshit. OK. This can normally be either a noun or a verb. As a... as a noun, it means something is seriously wrong. OK. Um... something is not right at all. So. He said he'll pay me tomorrow, but that's bullshit. He's lying. He's not telling the truth. We can use it as a verb: To bullshit. To talk rubbish about something you don't really know. OK. Giving the idea that you do. Perhaps you have an exam and you see the question and you don't know the answer. So you start bullshitting. You start writing without knowing what you are writing about. OK. So. Yes. What happened in 1791. Er... I don't know. OK, the summer was hot, the winter was cold. I am bullshitting. I am not talking about the real thing. But often bullshitting means as well you give the impression you know what you are talking about. Even if you don't. Stop bullshitting! OK. Tell me the truth. Tell me the real situation. So there you go. B is for Bullshit. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in another video. Bye for now.