claptrap

claptrap
    n 1: pompous or pretentious talk or writing [syn: {bombast},
         {fustian}, {rant}, {claptrap}, {blah}]
    

Claptrap \Clap"trap`\ (kl[a^]p"tr[a^]p`), n.
   1. A contrivance for clapping in theaters. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A trick or device to gain applause, especially pretentious
      but empty rhetoric; humbug.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]
    

Claptrap \Clap"trap`\, a.
   Contrived for the purpose of making a show, or gaining
   applause; deceptive; unreal.
   [1913 Webster]
    

100 Moby Thesaurus words for "claptrap":
      absurdity, amphigory, argument, argument by analogy,
      argumentum ad baculum, argumentum ad captandum,
      argumentum ad hominem, babble, babblement, bad case, balderdash,
      balls, baloney, begging the question, bibble-babble, blabber,
      blague, blather, bombast, bosh, bull, bullshit, bunk, bunkum,
      circular argument, crap, crowd-pleasing argument, double-talk,
      drivel, drool, empty words, eyewash, fallacy, fiddle-faddle,
      fiddledeedee, flam, flapdoodle, flimflam, flummery, folderol,
      formal fallacy, fudge, fustian, gabble, galimatias, gammon, gibber,
      gibberish, gibble-gabble, gobbledygook, hocus-pocus, hogwash, hoke,
      hokum, hooey, humbug, humbuggery, hysteron proteron,
      insincere argument, jabber, jargon, jiggery-pokery,
      logical fallacy, malarkey, material fallacy, mere rhetoric,
      moonshine, mumbo jumbo, narrishkeit, niaiserie, non sequitur,
      nonsense, pack of nonsense, palaver, paralogism, petitio principii,
      philosophism, prate, prattle, pseudosyllogism, rant, rigamarole,
      rigmarole, rodomontade, rubbish, skimble-skamble, solecism,
      sophism, sophistry, stuff and nonsense, stultiloquence, trash,
      trumpery, twaddle, twattle, twiddle-twaddle, vaporing,
      verbal fallacy, waffling, weak point