A derogatory term for a book or other printed material

Question

I am looking for a contemptuous or belittling word or phrase that would describe something that has been published (not necessarily a book) but is of inferior quality, and a waste of paper. It can be a slang/informal term.

Specifically, I'm NOT looking for a term for a cheap novel (like 'pulp fiction' or 'airport literature') - there's plenty of expressions both here and in wikipedia, but the book I wanted to refer to does not have any plot. It's actually an activity book, if this information happens to be of any use. I just wanted to write something like:

This book turned out to be an unremarkable/uninspiring/etc. <...>.

I haven't managed to find anything satisfactory so far. I could probably just use something generic like 'piece of crap', but I was wondering if there was any more specific, paper-related term.

Answer 1

Consider "birdcage liner". Typically used in reference to newspapers, but widely understood as printed material fit only for a bird to poop on.

Answer 2

As a well-read AE native speaker, I've never heard of "pap", so I can't recommend it for a general audience. I like "birdcage liner" - quite evocative - but honestly, the most direct expression is the one you said yourself:

This book turned out to be an unimaginative waste of paper.

That will be well understood and is fairly common. Other expressions include not worth the paper it's printed on - quite common, but doesn't slot neatly into your sentence. For a single word, drivel is probably your best bet - it's both harsh and fairly formal in register, so more likely to be seen in writing than garbage or trash, which are probably more common in speech. Drivel also has the advantage of usually being used to describe written works, though it doesn't strictly have to, whereas garbage is obviously much more general.

Answer 3

While not specifically targeting written communication, drivel

drivel - silly nonsense. "don't talk such drivel!" synonyms: nonsense, twaddle, claptrap, balderdash, gibberish, rubbish, mumbo jumbo, garbage; informalpoppycock, piffle, tripe, bull, hogwash, baloney, codswallop, flapdoodle, jive, guff, bushwa; informal:,tommyrot, bunkum; vulgar: slangcrapola, verbal diarrhea "he was talking complete drivel"

Answer 4

Hotlicks said rag in comments, and I think that's a good one.

It has a meaning literally as "a bad newspaper", so it is derogatory, and wonderful as a close metaphor for other poor quality written works.

This book turned out to be an unremarkable, uninspiring, unedifying rag.

Answer 5

Have a look at pap at Oxford dictionary, defined as

Worthless or trivial reading matter or entertainment.

Also look up its synonyms like pulp and consider other words like kitsch or cloying.

Answer 6

bumf, found from the late-19th century and still in current use, a contraction of bum-fodder which is to say toilet-paper with the implication that this is the only useful purpose the literature in question serves.

While it was once also used literally to mean actual toilet-paper, I've only ever come across it used in the insulting sense any later than half-way through the last century, so it's pretty much exactly what you are asking for.

Answer 7

I might use banal which means:

devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite

Corny might also work, although I tend to think of this when someone / something is trying to be funny:

old-fashioned, trite, or lacking in subtlety

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Edit:

If you wanted a noun, you could say, "This book is an uninspired banality."

Answer 8

While it's not quite what the body of your question is asking for, dead trees fits the subject line and might work for you. It more fits the sense of deriding print media itself, rather than the specific printed content, as a backwards and wasteful technology, but it could potentially work when you consider the particular use wasteful.

Answer 9

The first term that came to mind for me was pabulum (which I think is where pap came from but I can't find a citation). The third meaning seems to fit what you're looking for. It's interesting that pabulum can now mean both intellectually stimulating and insipid.

Definition of pabulum

1 : food; especially : a suspension or solution of nutrients in a state suitable for absorption Roots deliver pabulum to the plant.

2 : intellectual sustenance pabulum for consideration and reflection

3 : something (as writing or speech) that is insipid, simplistic, or bland wrote pabulum that was intended to offend no one

Answer 10

screed A long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/screed

that it is been published is implicit in that definition; it must be sufficiently published in order to be regarded.

However the word often has overtones of vitriol or anger.

Answer 11

Dross: "something that has no use or no value" (CD)

And from Wikipedia: "The most popular usage of the word is now as an adjective for poorly written or even plagiarized journalism."

So I think you can safely use it to describe the book you are talking about:

This book turned out to be total dross.

or as a phrase:

This book turned out to be an unremarkable and uninspiring piece of dross.

It most assuredly is not a compliment!

Answer 12

So, you say you are looking for something closer to "pile of papers with random stuff written on them" than "book" (or the boring tome), and for this I think you are looking for a cute sounding collective noun, bringing to mind terms like sheaf (a small bunch of pages), stack (a neat pile of pages), heap (a sloppy pile), bundle (a pile held together by string or something), recycling (as a noun, British style: "added it to the recycling"). Even farther afield, you might consider bale (as of hay), or (getting back to the collective noun department) flutter of pages, aggregation of dense, slow-to-read, meaningless facts, or just compilation (of less dense, but still maybe meaningless, facts). You say it's an activity book, which to me seems like a not-very-long work, but you make a point of calling it a book, so maybe I'm wrong on this, which would mean you could pull out the good-as-gold, classic, doorstop.

Answer 13

There is the British word bumf. Rhymes with Trumph

printed information, such as an advertisement or official document, that is usually unwanted and not interesting:

-Cambridge on-line

Answer 14

palimpsest

noun
1.
a manuscript on which two or more successive texts have been written, each one being erased to make room for the next

I've seen it used figuratively to refer to something so worthless its only use is to make room for other writing.