Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ron on February 13, 2019, 08:07:32 PM

Title: What a bunch of Buncombe!
Post by: Ron on February 13, 2019, 08:07:32 PM
Actually it’s not bunkum at all but a little essay about bromides and bunkum.

“Bromides are very often mixed with bunkum, and bunkum is not simply nonsense.  As you may know, the word bunkum (and bunk) entered our vocabulary in 1820, when Felix Walker, a congressman from North Carolina, rose in the House and delivered an irrelevant speech that he hoped would impress his constituents back in Buncombe County.  The irrelevance of Walker’s speech was particularly striking, and unwelcome, because he chose to deliver it in the midst of the heated debate leading up to the Missouri Compromise.  In one version of the story, some irritated congressmen had begun to leave the chamber when Walker told those who remained that they might leave as well, since he “was only speaking for Buncombe.”

https://orthosphere.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/bromides-and-bunkum/
Title: Re: What a bunch of Buncombe!
Post by: 230RN on February 13, 2019, 08:37:06 PM
 ^ Bunk.
Title: Re: What a bunch of Buncombe!
Post by: Ron on February 13, 2019, 09:00:23 PM
^ Bunk.

I’m reasonably confident in the story.

The online etymological dictionaries confirmed the story and it doesn’t show up in Webster’s 1828 dictionary.
Title: Re: What a bunch of Buncombe!
Post by: Scout26 on February 13, 2019, 09:06:04 PM
I've spent a week in this town one night. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncombe,_Illinois
Title: Re: What a bunch of Buncombe!
Post by: 230RN on February 14, 2019, 01:08:34 AM
I actually accept the story.  I just couldn't resist.  I'm weak.  Weak as water.