Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: leisnj48@****.cis.uwosh.edu leisnj48@****.cis.uwosh.edu
Subject: Word Question
Date: Thu, 02 Sep 1999 15:15:03 -0600 (CST)
On Thu, 2 Sep 1999, Marc Renouf wrote:

> In other words, it's bunk.

I was just curious if anyone of you guys knew where the word 'bunk' came
from. It's used often, but it's not something that you'd imagine proper
society thinking up.

Was it invented by the same people who brought us 'whack'?


-Jared Leisner
leisnj48@*****.edu
Message no. 2
From: Devotely Apathetic Apathy@******.com
Subject: Word Question
Date: Thu, 02 Sep 1999 22:53:48 -0400
leisnj48@****.cis.uwosh.edu wrote:

> On Thu, 2 Sep 1999, Marc Renouf wrote:

> > In other words, it's bunk.
>
> I was just curious if anyone of you guys knew where the word 'bunk' came
> from. It's used often, but it's not something that you'd imagine proper
> society thinking up.

It's from the US. A representative from Buncombe county in North Carolina
made
a completely pointless speech in the middle of the debate on the admission
of Missouri
to the union and all the slave/free issues of the day. When asked why he
did this he
said the people from Buncombe expected him to make a speech and it seemed a
good
a time as any. From there Buncombe to bunkum then bunk was used as a
general term for empty political fluff. After that it's gotten to our usage
of today.
Message no. 3
From: GRANITE granite@**.net
Subject: Word Question
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 22:26:56 -0700
> > In other words, it's bunk.
> I was just curious if anyone of you guys knew where the word 'bunk' came
> from.

My guess would be either: from Debunk..or from Bunko Squad..
--------------------------------GRANITE
"Rock Steady"
==============================================Lord, Grant Me The Serenity To Accept The
Things I Cannot Change,
The Courage To Change The Things I Can,
And The Wisdom To Hide The Bodies Of Those People I Had To Kill
Because They Pissed Me Off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ShadowRunner's Serenity Prayer
==============================================Understanding is a three edged sword. - Kosh
What is best in life?
To Crush Your Enemies,
See Them Driven Before You,
And To Hear The Lamentation Of Their Women. -Conan
I Am The LAW! -JD
Who Do You Trust? And, Who Do You Serve? - Galen
Jamais Arriere
Message no. 4
From: Logan Graves logan1@*****.intercom.net
Subject: Word Question
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 08:36:00 -0400
In our last episode, GRANITE wrote:

> > I was just curious if anyone of you guys knew where the word 'bunk' came
> > from.
>
> My guess would be either: from Debunk..or from Bunko Squad..

Bbzzzzttt!! Nope, sorry.

'Bunk' n. meaning, rubbish, or nonsense is a shortening of the slang term,
'Bunkum,' which means basically the same thing.

History time:

'Bunkum' comes from Buncombe County in North Carolina. The word emerged during
a debate on the Mississippi Queen in 1821, when Felix Walker, the member from
the district, rose to speak. Although the debate way due to end & the other
members begged him to sit down, he refused, explaining that his constituents
expected it, and that he was 'bound to make a speech for Buncombe'. After
which, the term stuck, first as 'buncombe' then 'bunkum' then, as abbreviated by
the satirist George Ade, 'bunk.'

As a side, I also found one passage supporting an alternate etymology for 'bunk'
but not nearly as well documented (more along your suggestion). It stated that
the word was derived from the dice game 'banco' or 'bunco' & the cheating at
which, soon made it a synonym for fraud. But this term only dates back to the
1910's & was popularized during the 1940's or so. The 1940's term 'Bunco Squad'
is a direct result of this.

Whew.

--Fenris
______________________________________________________logan1@*****.intercom.net
(>) Life is a series of rude "Awakenings."
(>) Haesslich

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Word Question, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!