banana oil
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banana oil
Superfluous, disingenuous, or nonsensical talk, especially that which is meant to flatter someone or exaggerate something. Look, I know I won't get past the first round of this tournament, so you can stop feeding me banana oil.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
banana oil
Nonsense, exaggerated flattery, as in I should be on television? Cut out the banana oil! The precise analogy in this idiom is not clear, unless it is to the fact that banana oil, a paint solvent and artificial flavoring agent, has no relation to the fruit other than that it smells like it. Possibly it is a variation on snake oil, a term for quack medicine that was extended to mean nonsense. [1920s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
banana oil
AMERICAN, INFORMALIf you call what someone says banana oil, you mean that it is only said to gain an advantage and is not sincere. All the things he said about her qualities of leadership were just banana oil.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
banana oil
nonsensical talk; bullshit. US and Australian informalFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
banana oil
n. nonsense. I refuse to listen to any more of your childish banana oil.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
banana oil
insincere or ridiculous talk. Like “horse feathers,” there's no such substance as banana oil. Also like “horse feathers,” the phrase Described something utterly preposterous. It has been attributed to Milt Gross, a cartoonist who first used the expression in his comic strips during the 1920s.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price