bunkum
(slang, dated, countable) Senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1820 · no dated citations yet19th centurySee decade cohort →
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#1·Apr 26, 2026
(slang, dated, countable) Senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense.
the manifold and serpentine wiles and evasions, shufflings and fencings, deceits and dissimulations, he had practised —the bunkums and the quackeries,
Origin: From buncombe, from “speaking to (or for) Buncombe County, North Carolina”, a county in North Carolina named for Edward Buncombe. In 1820, Felix Walker, who represented the county in the U.S. House of Representatives, rose to address the question of admitting Missouri as a free or slave state, his first attempt to speak on the subject after nearly a month of solid debate, right before the vote was to be called. To the exasperation of colleagues, he began a long and wearisome speech, explaining that he was speaking not to Congress but "to Buncombe." He was ultimately shouted down by his coll. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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#2·Apr 26, 2026
(politics, dated) Bombastic political posturing or oratorical display designed only for show or public applause.
The part of that word to focus on is bunk, short for bunkum, which is what these types attack with vigor and all the obsessiveness of the bunkum spreaders themselves.
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Other words near "bunkum" (B)
bunk inbunk intobunk lizardbunkloadbunk offbunkshooterbunk upbunnetbunniabunniahbunny boilerbunnyboy
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