Malarkey: of or pertaining to made up, invented, fictitious, occasionally slanderous, falsified, embellished, exaggerated, or downright wrong "facts", "stories", and "information."
Synonyms: bologna, bunk, bull shit, horse shit, croc of shit, fish story, hogwash, balderdash, folderol, poppycock, blather, hokum, fake news (and increasingly just news), and of course claptrap.
Origins: Malarkey has existed almost for as long as human civilization itself. Due to it's extremely early emergence into human culture, the details regarding the exact beginnings of malarkey have been hotly debated among self-proclaimed amateur anthropologists for generations. The most common theory holds that malarkey was invented by two men after a particularly boring and fruitless fishing trip. The appeal was obvious and immediate, especially amongst other men. Malarkey soon spread to stories of hunting and sexual conquests, along with the occasional shelter building project. Malarkey was quickly spread throughout the world with the advent of inns, taverns, pubs, and bars. Malarkey was at epidemic proportions near the end of the twentieth century, and exploded into a zombie apocalypse level problem upon the invention of the internet. Aided by the Internet, malarkey has even found its way into mainstream news media. Malarkey began as fun and games, but has grown to permeate society at dangerous, ludicrous levels. The vast majority of persons under the age of thirty in the developed world quite literally stare at malarkey all day long with no awareness or recognition of the fact.
Example of malarkey in a conversation between an aging homeless man and a typical ASU student:
"Hello, young person. What do you think about the Mill Avenue bridge over there?"
"Oh hi. The bridge is great! Looks nice and it's a local icon."
"I agree. I just happen to hold the deed to that bridge. Got it right here in my pocket."
"Oh wow! Lucky guy!"
"Wow indeed. Unfortunately, I've fallen on some hard times. I'm looking to sell the bridge at a phenomenal price. Practically giving it away. What do you say, don't you want to be the proud owner of that beautiful bridge?"
"Oh, man! I'd really love to. My friends would go ape shit. But I don't know if I should, I got these student loan payments."
"Oh don't worry about that. You shouldn't have had to pay for that anyway, remember? 'They' should have paid for that for you. Besides, worst case scenario, that's next week's problem. Why worry about it now? We're talking bridge ownership here!!"
"All valid points, crazy old guy. How much money we talking about here anyway?"
"Tell you what, I'm feeling generous because you've got a nice face. Plus I'm a little desperate today. I'll let it go for whatever cash and credit cards you have on you."
"Deal!! Thanks!"
(It's just possible I've got too much time on my hands today. LMAO!)