Carol S. White wrote, in part:

>....  What a load of codswallop.
>
>
If you're looking for hockey content, the following is codswallow! (sorry)

cheers, wayne

The American Heritage Dictionary defines this as "n : nonsensical talk
or writing [syn: folderol </search?q=folderol>, rubbish
</search?q=rubbish>, tripe </search?q=tripe>, trumpery
</search?q=trumpery>, trash </search?q=trash>, wish-wash
</search?q=wish-wash>, applesauce </search?q=applesauce>]".

Or ... Chiefly British Slang "Nonsense; rubbish."

WordReference.com enlightens us with
(http://www.wordreference.com/definition/codswallop)

(quote)
*_codswallop_*
*A*     /noun/

        *1 *    folderol </definition/folderol>, rubbish </definition/rubbish>,
tripe </definition/tripe>, trumpery </definition/trumpery>, trash
</definition/trash>, wish-wash </definition/wish%2Dwash>, applesauce
</definition/applesauce>, *codswallop*

        /nonsensical talk or writing /


        Category Tree:
abstraction </definition/abstraction>
╚relation </definition/relation>
╚social_relation </definition/social%5Frelation>
╚communication </definition/communication>
╚message </definition/message>; content </definition/content>;
subject_matter </definition/subject%5Fmatter>; substance
</definition/substance>
╚drivel </definition/drivel>; garbage </definition/garbage>
╚folderol </definition/folderol>, rubbish </definition/rubbish>, tripe
</definition/tripe>, trumpery </definition/trumpery>, trash
</definition/trash>, wish-wash </definition/wish%2Dwash>, applesauce
</definition/applesauce>, *codswallop*


(end of quote)

Ask Oxford
(http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/codswallop)
says:

(quote)


    What is the origin of the word 'codswallop'?

The story goes that a gentleman by the name of Hiram Codd patented a
bottle for fizzy drinks with a marble in the neck, which kept the bottle
shut by pressure of the gas until it was pressed inwards. /Wallop/ was a
slang term for beer, and /Codd's wallop/ came to be used by beer
drinkers as a derogatory term for weak or gassy beer, or for soft drinks.

This theory has appeared in /Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable/,
but there are problems with it. Codswallop is not recorded until the
mid-20th century, rather a long time after Codd's invention, and there
are no examples of the spelling /Codd's wallop/, which might be expected
as an early form. These are not conclusive disproof of the theory - it
is conceivable that the term circulated by word of mouth, like many
slang terms, and that the connection with Codd's bottle had been
forgotten by the time that the term was written down - but they do shed
doubt on the tale.

(end of quote)

Or if you prefer World Wide Words
(http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-cod1.htm):

(quote)

CODSWALLOP

Nonsense.

This mainly British colloquial expression is recorded only from the
1960s, but is certainly older. Its origin is uncertain. Some argue it
may be from /cods/, an old term for the testicles that derives from the
Anglo-Saxon sense of /cod/, a bag. It is also suggested that /wallop/
may be connected with the dialect term meaning to chatter or scold (not
with the word meaning a heavy blow).

One explanation has it that it refers to the late Hiram Codd,
who—despite his archetypally American first name—was British, born in
Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk in 1838. He spent his life working in the
soft drinks business. In the 1870s, he designed and patented a method of
sealing a glass bottle by means of a ball in its neck, which the
pressure of the gas in the fizzy drink forced against a rubber washer.
Making the bottle was a technical challenge, since the ball necessarily
had to be larger than the diameter of the neck. It was only in 1876,
when he teamed up with a Yorkshire glass blower named Ben Rylands, that
the answer was found. The Codd bottle was an immediate success;
surviving examples are now highly collectable. You opened them by
pushing the ball into the neck, and openers in the shape of short, thin
cylinders were supplied for the purpose. One unexpected problem was that
children smashed the bottles to use the glass balls as marbles.

The suggestion is that drinkers who preferred their tipple to have
alcohol in it were dismissive of Mr Codd’s soft drinks. As beer was
often called /wallop/, they referred sneeringly to the fizzy drink as
/Codd’s wallop/, and the resulting word later spread its meaning to
refer to anything considered to be rubbish.

This story reeks of the approach to word history called folk etymology.
As one writer has put it, it seems rather too neat an explanation to be
true. But nobody’s come up with anything better.
(end of quote)

And finally, Lovatt's
(http://www.lovatts.com.au/trivia/wordsandphrases/trivia_wp12_codswallop.htm)
has this as ...

(quote)


  Codswallop

What a load of old codswallop! What on earth does this really mean?

In 1872, Hiram C Codd went into business selling lemonade in green glass
bottles with marble stoppers. ‘Wallop’ was a nineteenth century slang
term used for beer and Codds wallop is said to have become a disparaging
term amongst beer drinkers for mineral waters and weak drinks, such as
Codd’s lemonade. These days the application of the word has spread to
refer to anything of no value.

Interestingly enough, Codd’s bottles have since become of great value.
Apparently, Bate’s Mineral Water is the new Codd’s Wallop, and is sold
in various top stores and restaurants
(end of quote)