One of the words commonly used in England for foolish ideas, talk, or activities was ‘bosh’, as in ‘that entire theory is utter bosh’. Bosh, it turns out, comes from bos, a Turkish word meaning ‘empty; useless’. In similar vein, I would have expected British colonials in India to create ‘buckwash’ out of the Hindustani bakwaaas, but they never got beyond ‘eyewash’.
