folderol

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 14, 2007 is: folderol • \FAHL-duh-rahl\ • noun 1 : a useless ornament or accessory : trifle 2 : nonsense Examples: Cherie dismissed the tabloid article as useless folderol. Did you know? Hogwash. Claptrap. Hooey. Drivel. Malarkey. English is rife with words that mean "nonsense," and "folderol" is one of the many. Though not the most common of the words for nonsense, it's been around since 1820 and is still heard today. "Folderol" comes from "fol-de-rol" (or "fal-de-ral"), which used to be a nonsense refrain in songs, much like "tra-la-la." The oldest recorded instance of someone "singing folderol" occurs in Irish dramatist George Farquhar's 1701 play Sir Harry Wildair, in which a character sings, "Fal, al, deral!" *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.