What it means
Malarkey is nonsense with a bit of theatrical puff on it. You pull it out when someone’s chatting rot, serving a flimsy excuse, or turning a tiny task into a full-blown faff parade. It’s got an old-school, almost polite coat on, but the jab still lands. Strongly tied to Irish and Irish-American speech, though plenty of English speakers use it now.
Usage examples
"Three forms and a meeting with Accounts just to order toner? Ah here, that’s pure malarkey. I’ll nip to the shop myself."
"He gave me some malarkey about the train being cancelled, but I saw him roll in at noon, no rush."
"Enough of this malarkey with the forms, just tell me where to sign and let me get on with my day."
"Don’t give me that malarkey about your phone dying, you were posting on Instagram ten minutes ago."
"All this malarkey over who booked the table could’ve been sorted with one text, honestly."
Where it comes from
Malarkey turns up in American print in the early 1900s and is strongly associated with Irish and Irish-American speech, especially for bluster, bunk, and windy talk. The deeper root isn’t nailed down, so the solid bit is its early US record and the Irish link that helped it spread wider.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
Your vote counts
Is this real street talk or have we lost the plot? Cast your vote.
We look after this expression together
If they say it where you live and something is missing here, bring it. A magikito looks at it and adds it.
- An example
- Your patch
- Your voice