What it means
Means waffle, empty patter, loads of words used to dodge a straight answer. If someone’s giving you flannel, they’re padding it out, stalling for time, and hoping you stop pushing. You’ll hear it off politicians, managers, sales types, anyone trying to sound clever while saying absolutely nowt. Basically verbal fog with a straight face.
Usage examples
"I asked the letting agent why the rent jumped again. He gave me pure flannel about the area evolving and lifestyle value. Mate, just say the landlord’s rinsing us."
"The press release from the council on the bypass project around the Lancaster area was pure flannel, four pages of polished sentences, two photographs of officers in hi-vis vests, and zero indication of when the actual roadworks would begin on the original deadline."
"My new line manager gave me a load of flannel about the upcoming pay review, twelve minutes of vague language about budget priorities and strategic alignment, and not a single concrete number for the salary band of the next financial year."
Where it comes from
Flannel as a metaphor for empty padding comes from the literal piece of woollen flannel cloth that Britons used to pad clothing, polish furniture and dampen sound throughout the nineteenth century. The figurative shift to verbal padding appeared in the British army slang of the First World War, when officers used flannel to describe the soft and reassuring patter delivered to soldiers before unpleasant orders. The civilian press of the nineteen-thirties adopted the term to describe political speech-making, and the phrase has retained its slightly weary tone of recognising verbosity for what it is, the equivalent of polishing the absence of substance with a soft cloth.
Other ways to say it
Your vote counts
Is this real street talk or have we lost the plot? Cast your vote.