Taffy or toffee?

[seeker]

Was the phrase 'a load of old toffee' originally an Ann Robinson-style jibe at the sometimes flowery speech of the Welsh?

[Quizmonster]

'Toffee', to suggest incompetence or nonsense first appeared in the early 20th century. Its earliest recorded use in writing was in the 'London Illustrated News' in 1914, when a soldier reported that their opponents "couldn't shoot for toffee." So, we're probably looking at military slang here, rather than Ann Robinson, and at the Germans, perhaps, rather than the Welsh!