Feb. 24th, 2025

stonepicnicking_okapi: letters (letters)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi
folderol [fol-duh-rol]

noun
1. a useless ornament or accessory, a trifle
2. nonsense

examples
I found it earlier in the week in this locked room mystery novel set in 1938 England:

1. It was absent-minded folderol. Of course I had no idea it was the last conversation I would ever have with my husband. The Murder Wheel, Tom Mead

2. I want to hear what kind of folderol they think they've got, so I can clear it up once and for all. Devil's Waltz Jonathan Kellerman

origins
"Folderol" comes from "fol-de-rol" (or "fal-de-ral"), which used to be a nonsense refrain in songs, much like "tra-la-la." The oldest recorded instance of someone "singing folderol" occurs in Irish dramatist George Farquhar's 1701 play Sir Harry Wildair, in which a character sings, "Fal, al, deral!"

A shop which sells wine and ice cream in Paris.
folderol
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