Editing Bullshit (section)

==Etymology==
"Bull", meaning nonsense, dates from the 17th century, while the term "bullshit" has been used as early as 1915 in British<ref>''Concise Oxford English Dictionary''{{clarify|date=April 2023}}</ref> and American<ref name="etymonline">{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bullshit |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2011-11-12}}</ref> [[slang]] and came into popular usage only during [[World War&nbsp;II]]. The word "bull" itself may have derived from the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|bole}}, meaning "fraud, deceit".<ref name="etymonline"/> The term "horseshit" is a near synonym. An occasionally used [[South African English]] equivalent, though more common in [[Australian slang]], is "[[bull dust]]".

Although there is no confirmed etymological connection, these older meanings are synonymous with the modern expression "bull", generally considered and used as a contraction of "bullshit".

Another proposal, according to the lexicographer [[Eric Partridge]], is that the term was popularized by the Australian and New Zealand troops from about 1916 arriving at the front during World War I. Partridge claims that the British commanding officers placed emphasis on ''bull''; that is, attention to appearances, even when it was a hindrance to waging war. The [[Digger (soldier)|Diggers]] allegedly ridiculed the British by calling it bull'''shit'''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Peter Hartcher |url=http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/us-looks-down-under-to-stop-poll-rot-20121105-28tz1.html |title=US looks Down Under to stop poll rot |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=2012-11-06 |access-date=2013-11-05}}</ref>