My eye

Origin of: My eye

My eye

My eye or all my eye are retorts to someone talking rubbish and are the equivalent of retorting, “Nonsense!” It dates from the early 19th century and means the same thing as hogwash or eyewash. The relevance or meaning of eye is not known and can only be surmised. Perhaps it refers to some sense of seeing is believing. Both my eye and all my eye actually derive from the much longer and earlier expression, all my eye and Betty Martin.