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Q2063516
EntityQ2063516· pop 16· linked from 94 articles

Also known as BS, bull, bullcrap

thumb|A horse trailer with the words "War is bullshit everywhere" Bullshit (also bullshite or bullcrap) is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive. It is mostly a slang term and a profanity which means "nonsense", especially as a rebuke in response to communication or actions viewed as deceptive, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false. As with many expletives, the term can be used as an interjection, or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings. A per

~14 min read

Encyclopedic overview

14 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • In the philosophy of truth and rhetoric <span class="anchor" id="Philosophy"></span>
  • Assertions of fact
  • Harry Frankfurt's concept
  • David Graeber's theory of bullshit work in the modern economy
  • Education and reasoning as immunization against bullshit
  • <span class="anchor" id="PPBS"></span>As an object of psychological research
  • In everyday language
  • See also
  • References
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Further reading
  • External links

thumb|A horse trailer with the words "War is bullshit everywhere" Bullshit (also bullshite or bullcrap) is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive. It is mostly a slang term and a profanity which means "nonsense", especially as a rebuke in response to communication or actions viewed as deceptive, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false. As with many expletives, the term can be used as an interjection, or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings. A person who excels at communicating nonsense on a given subject is sometimes referred to as a "bullshit artist" instead of a "liar".

In philosophy and psychology of cognition, the term "bullshit" is sometimes used to specifically refer to statements produced without particular concern for truth, clarity, or meaning, distinguishing "bullshit" from a deliberate, manipulative lie intended to subvert the truth. In business and management, guidance for comprehending, recognizing, acting on and preventing bullshit, are proposed for stifling the production and spread of this form of misrepresentation in the workplace, media and society. Within organizations bullshitting is considered to be a social practice that people engage with to become part of a speech community, to get things done in that community, and to reinforce their identity. Research has also produced the Organizational Bullshit Perception Scale that reveals three factors of organizational bullshit (regard for truth, the boss, and bullshit language) that can be used to gauge perceptions of the extent of organizational bullshit that exists in a workplace.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q2063516” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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