Two Words: Malarkey & Hisself

“Don’t give me any of that malarkey!” would be a proper use of the word malarkey, and how we often hear it in conversation.  Malarkey is a real word, not a colloquialism, slang, or a non-standard word.  The meaning is often grasped, even if one does not know the exact definition.

Malarkey, a noun, means nonsense or a meaningless, pointless, or irrelevant discussion. 

“John’s explanation of his parking ticket was absolutely malarkey.”

“The discussion about space aliens was obviously pure malarkey.”

Red Divider

Hisself is not a word, or at least not a real word outside of slang expressions.  It is an improper contraction of the words Him and Self.  We guess that out there somewhere someone has used the non-word herself as a contraction for Her and Self.  Slang yes, but they almost never make it into print other than when used in a quotation.

It is cringeworthy when you hear someone use it in conversation.