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Subject: bunkum

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Will you travel further or farther for your summer vacation?
Take along our Concise Dictionary of English Usage and find out!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?conusg.htm&6
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The Word of the Day for July 1 is:

bunkum \BUNG-kum\ noun
: insincere or foolish talk : nonsense

Example sentence:
Vincent thought he had given strong arguments in support of his theory,
but Professor Lyons dismissed it as bunkum nonetheless.

Did you know?
Some words in our language have more colorful histories than others, but
in the case of "bunkum," you could almost say it was an act of Congress that
brought the word into being. Back in 1820 Felix Walker, who represented
Buncombe County, North Carolina, in the U.S. House of Representatives, was
determined that his voice be heard on his constituents' behalf, even though the
matter up for debate was irrelevant to Walker's district and he had little to
contribute. To the exasperation of his colleagues, Walker insisted on
delivering a long and wearisome "speech for Buncombe." His persistent -- if
insignificant -- harangue made "buncombe" (later respelled "bunkum") a synonym
for meaningless political claptrap and later for any kind of nonsense.






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