You might know Bob Geldof as the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, a punk rock band from the ’70s and ’80s. You might also know Geldof for his activism, specifically the Band Aid group responsible for millions of dollars in charity concerts and the “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” song.
You almost surely know Geldof for his wild, profanity-laced appearances on TV. This latest one (which was hilarious) got him booted from Sky News. Here’s how it went down:
Sky News: “A lot of people are saying, ‘look at all the people in that room, a lot of wealthy people, if they all paid their taxes in the right way, we wouldn’t need these kind of fund-raising singles.’ What would you say to that?”
Bob Geldof: “I think they’re talking bollocks.”
Sky News: “That’s pretty colourful language. If you could not use any more, we’d appreciate it.”
Cut to 20 seconds later…
Bob Geldof: “Complete load of bollocks.”
Now, excuse my ignorance but I didn’t know “bollocks” was a bad word. I thought it was like saying “bloody” or “nonsense” or something of that ilk. Let’s travel over to Google to find out the meaning behind the word and OH, THAT’S WHY.
“Bollocks” is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning “testicles”. The word is often used figuratively in British English and Hiberno-English as a noun to mean “nonsense”, an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to mean “poor quality” or “useless”.
“Talking bollocks” generally means talking nonsense or bullsh*t
You learn something new every day.
