This word, which signifies nonsense, _alias_ talk without meaning, is
supposed to have first arisen at the time when all pleadings at the bar
were in Latin. There was a cause, it seems, about a cock, belonging to
the plaintiff Matthias; the counsel, in the heat of the harangue, by
often repeating the words _gallus_ and _Matthias_, happened to blunder,
and, instead of saying _gallus Matthiae_, said _galli Matthias_, which
at length became a general name for all confused, embroiled language and
discourse.