CLAPTRAP

The noun “claptrap” means talk or ideas that are nonsensical.

 Examples:

 “Moreover, they should endeavour to distinguish the evidence from the claptrap around the pseudo-syndrome of popular myth . . .”

 “Civil service correspondence from 1979 — which has been placed in the National Archives at Kew — shows there were calls for ministers to launch an unequivocal public attack on ‘flying saucer claptrap’.”

 “Social media has been a godsend for anti-vaxxers and those pushing pseudoscientific claptrap, researchers say.”


 The term originates from an 18th century theatrical device for eliciting applause and was first used in its current context in “Don Juan” by George Byron [1].

 “Besides, I hate all mystery, and that air
Of clap-trap which your recent poets prize” [2]

 [1] Knowles, Elizabeth. “claptrap” in The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press, 2005.

 [2] Byron, George Gordon. Don Juan (p. 120). Kindle Edition.

 Photo credit: Jase Hill (Creative Commons)