furphy

plural furphies · alternative furfie

1. AustraliaslangAn erroneous or improbable story; also, a rumour.

   He's off his lolly. It's just bloody Buka talk. Another of their half-arsed furfies. And he knows it!

   1998, Peter Pinney, Signaller Johnston’s Secret War: New Guinea 1943–1945, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 156

   4 more examples

   I know wot I wus born fer now, an' soljerin's me game, / That's no furphy; but I never guessed it once; […]

   1916, C[larence] J[ames] Dennis, “The Game”, in The Moods of Ginger Mick, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, →OCLC, page 110

   ‘Well, old boy, some other Top Persons have high-stepping wives who go to Nefertiti, and the furphy round the House is that they believe in the thing so solidly that they’ve convinced their husbands, and that’s what’s really at the back of it.’ / 'Now look, you two, sober up a minute. This is serious. I think Bill’s furphy’s right.[…]’

   1960 September, John Wyndham [pseudonym; John Wyndham Harris], chapter XII, in Trouble with Lichen, London: Michael Joseph, published October 1960, →OCLC, page 153

   A number of the furphies and fads in relation to public-sector agricultural R&D relate to attempts to increase demand for farm products in various ways.

   1996, Julian M. Alston, Philip G. Pardey, “Current Policy in a Contemporary Context”, in Making Science Pay: The Economics of Agricultural R&D Policy (AEI Studies in Agricultural Policy), Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, →ISBN, page 313

   [Tim] Gartrell and [John] Faulkner also released Maurie Daly's letter, which was sent to us on Monday, to the media, putting the Liverpool furphies to rest.

   2005, Mark Latham, “2004 Pre-election”, in The Latham Diaries, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, →ISBN, page 328

   Synonyms: scuttlebutt

plural Furphys

1. A surname.