Should have added; this is usually used when intimating that someone is talking arrant nonsense, e.g.
“Tha’s a load of old cobblers that is”
It surprises me that the first recorded use was so recent. I don’t recall when I first heard it, but I don’t recall ever thinking it was some kind of new expression. I’m surprised that others may not have encountered it until recently.
Never, at least if we’re defining ‘a thing’ as something that a lot of people do.
I have a girlfriend who shouts something even more colorful, “Balls on my chin!”
I’d never heard it until Craig Ferguson introduced his skeleton sidekick Geoffrey to the late show. I just figured it was his way of expressing “bollocks” so an American audience could relate or something.
The expression pops up at one point in The Fountainhead., 1943, and I don’t really remember running into it anyplace else actually.
“Gus, you son of a bitch,” said Keating, “the thing cost money.” “Balls!” said Gus, “we’re not paying for it.”
First time I heard or saw it was a Jean Shepherd story, possibly Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven Of Bliss which was published in Playboy in 1968. (Most of Shepherd’s “Ralphie” stories first appeared in PB, and I loved them.)
Midway through a long drive, the family car blows a tire. Car rolls to a stop, everyone is dead quiet, fearing “the old man’s” rage. The silence is finally broken when Dad mutters, barely audibly…“Balls.”
Leading to a memorable exchange in the British TV series Yes, Minister
Imagine my surprise when I did a Google search and it led back to an earlier SDMB thread.
Also, the variant “shitballs” can be traced to Alberta, although I’m uncertain of the date of my cite.Just maybe, possibly, sorta, not safe for work.
I used to hear my Mom yell “BALLS ON A DUCK!” whenever she’d get really ticked off or frustrated at something. No idea why that phrase, but us kids knew to scramble when we heard it. That was late 60’s early 70’s - and she’ll still use the phrase to this day.
I’m pretty sure that Siegfried said it (to Tristan I think) in one of the All Creatures Great and Small books. I think it’s been around for a long time.
I fondly remember one day about 15 years ago when, after a series of unfortunate misinterpretations and misunderstandings that resulted in us looking like a bunch of incompetent idiots, my older and very proper boss put his head in hands and said ‘Oh God, what a balls-up!’
I first heard the term used by my late uncle sometime in the late '60s. I had a vague impression it was of British origin. I never thought it was a common expression in the US.
That said, I’ve been know to mutter it a few times myself.
Not just London - like most of the very small number of rhyming slang phrases that are actually used in real life, “cobblers” is used, or at least understood, throughout the country, although probably more commonly in the south. Only a small proportion of users will be aware of the “awls” etymology, assuming it is true. To most people it is simply a slang word for “nonsense” or “rubbish”.
My dad used to say it. Late seventies, Midwestern USA.
I feel hesitant to bring this up as I can’t find verification on the intertubes, but one history book I read about the war in Europe reported that he actually said, “Balls!”. This was published in newspapers as Nuts! because what he really said was too racy for the times.
I have never heard this at all. The story has always been “Nuts!” Which flabbergasted the Germans, because “nuts” had no similar slang meaning when translated literally.
From Wikipedia:
"The choice of ‘Nuts!’ rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that ‘General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. “Nuts” was part of his normal vocabulary.’ "
I remember it being one of my dad’s go-to curses 25+ years ago.
Tell your girlfriend I think she’s a genius.
That’s just going too far. Things may be bad, but they aren’t Family Guy bad.
Whew, I’m glad I’m not the only one.
I thought they made this up for Bobby(oddly enough, played by a former and occasional Doper, Jim Beaver).
Not in my part of London (south-east, shading into Kent) - I’ve said balls all my life.