Dictionary

furphy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈfɜːfi/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈfɜɹfi/ (General-American)
• audio -
• (General-American) audio

Etymology

From Furphy (a surname), from the firm of J[ohn] Furphy and Sons. An often-repeated etymology is that during World War I (1914–1918), Australian soldiers in Europe and the Middle East often stood around water carts manufactured by the firm and emblazoned with its name to talk and exchange news and rumours. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word derives from news and rumours spread by soldiers operating Furphy carts collecting garbage and human waste in the Broadmeadows Camp in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1914, or shared between soldiers visiting latrines where such Furphy carts would often be seen.

Meanings

1. (Australia, slang) An erroneous or improbable story; also, a rumour.
   • I know wot I wus born fer now, an' soljerin's me game, / That's no furphy; but I never guessed it once; […] 1916, C[larence] J[ames] Dennis, “The Game”, in The Moods of Ginger Mick, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, →OCLC, page 110:
   • A number of the furphies and fads in relation to public-sector agricultural R&D relate to attempts to increase demand for farm products in various ways. 1996, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey, “Current Policy in a Contemporary Context”, in Making Science Pay: The Economics of Agricultural R&D Policy (AEI Studies in Agricultural Policy), Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, →ISBN, page 313:
   • [Tim] Gartrell and [John] Faulkner also released Maurie Daly's letter, which was sent to us on Monday, to the media, putting the Liverpool furphies to rest. 2005, Mark Latham, “2004 Pre-election”, in The Latham Diaries, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, →ISBN, page 328:
   • ‘Well, old boy, some other Top Persons have high-stepping wives who go to Nefertiti, and the furphy round the House is that they believe in the thing so solidly that they’ve convinced their husbands, and that’s what’s really at the back of it.’ / 'Now look, you two, sober up a minute. This is serious. I think Bill’s furphy’s right.[…]’ 1960 September, John Wyndham [pseudonym; John Wyndham Harris], chapter XII, in Trouble with Lichen, London: Michael Joseph, published October 1960, →OCLC, page 153:
   • He's off his lolly. It's just bloody Buka talk. Another of their half-arsed furfies. And he knows it! 1998, Peter Pinney, Signaller Johnston’s Secret War: New Guinea 1943–1945, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 156:

Forms

Coordinates

traveller's tale · cock-and-bull story · Banbury story of a cock and a bull · tall tale · tall story · fish story

Relateds

water cooler · parish-pump

Synonyms

scuttlebutt

Translations (3)

fi juoru (erroneous or improbable story) · ru спле́тня (erroneous or improbable story) · fi kalavale (erroneous or improbable story)