gobshite

English

Etymology

From gob (“mouth”) +‎ shite (“excrement”).

Pronunciation

• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒbˌʃaɪt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

gobshite (plural gobshites)

1. (Ireland, UK, slang, offensive, vulgar) One who engages in nonsensical chatter or unwanted conversation.

   What's that gobshite talking about now?

2. (Ireland, UK, slang, offensive, vulgar) A person of very poor judgment and unpleasant character.
   • 2019, Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin Books (2020), page 191:

     LaTisha [...] left school a head-banging argumentative gobshite with no qualifications who wouldnʼt take no orders from no one

3. (Ireland, UK, slang, offensive, vulgar) Nonsense; speech or writing that is untrue, meaningless, or otherwise unwelcome.
   • 2013 July 12, Wow [username], “How Einstein's most famous equation affects you”, in Science blogs‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-11-29, comments:

     "You do work on the brick when you raise it. The Earth doesn’t do work on the brick as it falls."
     With all due respect, that's a load of gobshite, John.

   • 2015 July 6, Macart [username], “The belated truth”, in Wings over Scotland‎^[2], archived from the original on 2023-12-24, comments:

     Aw they were always talking gobshite as far as I was concerned, but for most bods, if it was in black and white it was true.

Usage notes

• The collective expression shower of gobshites ("group of idiots") is quite common in Ireland.

Translations

one who engages in nonsensical chatter

• Finnish: paskanjauhaja
• French: ^{(please verify)} fouille-merde (fr) m
• German: Schwätzer (de) m, Großmaul (de) n, Klugscheißer (de) m
• Italian: coglione (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: drittslenger m

• Swedish: skitsnackare c pl

person of very poor judgment

• French: mange-merde (fr) m
• Italian: coglione (it) m, mezzasega (it) f