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Bunkum

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Claptrap. A representative at Washington being asked why he made such a flowery and angry speech, so wholly uncalled for, made answer, “I was not speaking to the House, but to Buncombe,” which he represented (North Carolina).

“America, too, will find that caucuses, stumporatory, and speeches to Buncombe will not carry men to the immortal gods.”—Carlyle: Latter-day Pamphlets (Parliaments, p. 93).

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Bun
Bunch of Fives
Buncle (John)
Bundle
Bundle of Sticks
Bundschuh [highlows]
Bung
Bungalow (Indian)
Bungay
Bungay
Bunkum
Bunny
Bunsby (Jack)
Bunting
Buphagos
Burbon
Burchardise
Burchell (Mr.)
Burd (Helen)
Burden of a Song
Bure