flannel
noun
[ ˈflan(ə)l ]
• a kind of soft woven fabric, typically made of wool or cotton and slightly milled and raised.
• "a check flannel shirt"
• a small piece of towelling used for washing oneself.
• bland fluent talk indulged in to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly.
• "a simple admittance of ignorance was much to be preferred to any amount of flannel"
Similar:
smooth talk,
flattery,
blarney,
blandishments,
honeyed words,
prevarication,
hedging,
equivocation,
evasion,
double-talk,
doublespeak,
nonsense,
rubbish,
spiel,
soft soap,
sweet talk,
buttering up,
weasel words,
baloney,
hot air,
poppycock,
tripe,
bosh,
bunk,
waffle,
rot,
codology,
guyver,
smoodging,
flannel
verb
• use bland fluent talk to avoid addressing a difficult subject or situation directly.
• "he apologised for the situation and then flannelled on about ramping up production"
Similar:
use flattery,
talk blarney,
flatter,
prevaricate,
hedge,
equivocate,
be evasive,
vacillate,
blather,
evade/dodge the issue,
stall,
hum and haw,
waffle,
shilly-shally,
soft-soap,
sweet-talk,
butter someone up,
pussyfoot around,
fast-talk,
tergiversate,
Origin:
Middle English: probably from Welsh gwlanen ‘woollen article’, from gwlân ‘wool’.
