From the wikipedia:
Alternative spellings
"Ballock" is a variation of "bollock", which was in everyday usage in
the medieval period, albeit rarely heard today. The connection with
"ball" in the sense of "testis" is evident.
The word is sometimes spelled as bollox or bollix usually in order to
make it appear less vulgar. In this case its meaning is "to bungle",
for example, "The project was going well, but my boss bollixed it
up." This is the sense in which the term "bollix" is generally used
in American English, where the term "bollocks" is generally known
only from the title of the Sex Pistols album, and its original
meaning is almost unknown. "Bollixed up" is sometimes considered an
out-of-date expression[citation needed] that has largely been
replaced by phrases such as "screwed up," as the latter term has
gradually lost most of its previously vulgar connotation.
"Bollix" may also be used to refer to a particularly nasty or awkward
person, particularly in Ireland, as in "He's a right Bollix".
A modern folk etymology claims that the correct singular of the word
should not be "bollock", but rather "pillock", commonly used as
another British English insult (though usually without the testis
connotation). However, it appears that this is erroneous, and that
the two words are connected only by similarities in the spelling.
Both "pillock" and "cock" are probably shortened forms of the Middle
English "pillicock", a slang term for "penis".
On Mar 20, 2008, at 9:45 AM, Mark Phillips wrote:
Erm ... Bollocksed perhaps?
On Tue, 2008-03-18 at 15:19 -0400, Richard Cuff wrote:
That does have things bollixed up in the region...thankfully one
rarely uses that portion of I-95 to reach Kulpsville, especially from
out of town.
Traffic reports were certainly longer than normal today...
Richard Cuff
--
Mark Phillips, G7LTT/NI2O
Randolph, NJ
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