597: bunkum Jul 27, 2016

An older term for nonsense, less used today, is 'bunkum', and much like nonsense in politics still, it originated within the House of Representatives. In the early 19th Century, it was unclear whether Missouri was going to be annexed as a slave- or free-state, so a debate was held. As a representative from Missouri, Felix Walker, spoke, rather than addressing the issue at hand, he reportedly talked of local issues from his county, Buncombe County in order solely to make his constituents happy.