Editing Bullshit (section)

{{Short description|Slang term for nonsense}}
{{About|the expletive}}
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'''''Bullshit''''' (also '''''bullshite''''' or '''''bullcrap''''') is a common [[English language|English]] [[Expletive attributive|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 [[Deception|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 [[Meaning (linguistic)|meanings]]. A person who excels at communicating nonsense on a given subject is sometimes referred to as a "bullshit artist" instead of a "liar".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Heer |first=Jeet |date=2015-12-01 |title=Donald Trump Is Not a Liar |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/124803/donald-trump-not-liar |access-date=2022-03-13 |magazine=[[The New Republic]]}}</ref>

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.<ref name=ppbs>[http://journal.sjdm.org/15/15923a/jdm15923a.html "On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit"], Gordon Pennycook, James Allan Cheyne, Nathaniel Barr, Derek J. Koehler, Jonathan A. Fugelsang. Judgment and Decision Making, Vol.&nbsp;10, No.&nbsp;6, November 2015, pp.&nbsp;549–563.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McCarthy |first1=Ian P. |last2=Hannah |first2=David |last3=Pitt |first3=Leyland F. |last4=McCarthy |first4=Jane M. |date=2020-05-01 |title=Confronting indifference toward truth: Dealing with workplace bullshit |url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000768132030001X |journal=Business Horizons |language=en |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=253–263 |doi=10.1016/j.bushor.2020.01.001 |s2cid=214037079 |issn=0007-6813|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spicer |first1=André |title=Playing the Bullshit Game: How Empty and Misleading Communication Takes Over Organizations |journal=Organization Theory |date=4 June 2020 |volume=1 |issue=2 |doi=10.1177/2631787720929704 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Research has also produced the Organizational Bullshit Perception Scale (OBPS) 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferreira |first1=Caitlin |last2=Hannah |first2=David |last3=McCarthy |first3=Ian |last4=Pitt |first4=Leyland |last5=Ferguson |first5=Sarah Lord |title=This Place Is Full of It: Towards an Organizational Bullshit Perception Scale |journal=Psychological Reports |date=3 December 2020 |volume=125 |issue=1 |pages=448–463 |doi=10.1177/0033294120978162 |pmid=33269982 |s2cid=227260056 }}</ref>

The word is generally used in a depreciatory sense, but it may imply a measure of respect for language skills or frivolity, among various other benign usages. In [[philosophy]], [[Harry Frankfurt]], among others, analyzed the concept of ''bullshit'' as related to, but distinct from, [[lie|lying]];<ref name="The Psychology of Bullshit" /> the liar tells untruth, the bullshitter aims to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true—it may be.<ref>{{Cite book |title=On Bullshit |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=30 January 2005 |isbn=9780691122946 |access-date=13 May 2022 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit |last1=Frankfurt |first1=Harry G.}}</ref>

As an exclamation, "Bullshit!" conveys a measure of dissatisfaction with something or someone, but this usage need not be a comment on the [[truth]] of the matter.