Baloney originally was a misspelling of bologna, based on its pronunciation;
Bologna is the name of a town in Italy, that sounds like ‘baloney’ to English ears.
To people outside of Italy, bologna is a kind of very fat sausage; one slice can cover a piece of bread. Usually in America, where it is quite popular, one does not see it in stores as a whole sausage—only the slices. The sausage is named after the town in Italy.
Now, baloney is also an accepted spelling for bologna, the sausage, but not for the town in Italy. And baloney also has a slang meaning in English, which the dictionary says is ‘nonsense’—but this is not completely accurate. The slang meaning of baloney is ‘bullshit’—if you will forgive my French, as we say in English. The difference between baloney as bullshit and baloney as nonsense is that baloney as bullshit is deceptive and offensive:
Correct usage: Conspiracy theories are a bunch of baloney.
Correct usage: Children love nonsense.
Incorrect usage: Children love baloney. (when referring to nonsense)
Well, actually, many children do love bologna! But not baloney.
More Examples of How to Use "Baloney" in a Sentence
- The baloney sandwich was dry, so I threw it away.
- The mayor's speech was full of baloney.
- I don't know if it's the baloney I ate this morning or what, but I feel really weird.
- I told her I would give her a piece of my mind, but she just looked at me like I was talking a bunch of baloney.
- Somebody at work stole my baloney sandwich! My baloney sandwich—my baloney sandwich!