Rhubarb

Origin of: Rhubarb

Rhubarb

In Britain, this is an everyday exclamation for rubbish or nonsense, usually in response to something that has been said and dates from the early 20th century. It is thought to originate from acting on stage, when actors would repeat the word rhubarb to resemble the sound of a crowd of people murmuring indistinctly. This theatrical practice dates from at least the mid-19th century. Because no one could quite make out what the actors were saying, it later acquired the meaning of nonsense or rubbish. In his Dictionary of Historical Slang, Eric Partridge has rhubarb as slang for male or female genitalia from the late 19th century, but it is rarely used in this sense these days. In the US, rhubarb is slang for a heated squabble or argument and was first used in the context of baseball in the 1930s. This origin is unknown but it may have connections to the theatrical practice mentioned earlier.