The Romance of Words. BUNKUM
• More than a hundred years ago, there was a certain member of the American Congress who habitually made long, futile speeches when there were very few people in the House to hear him. The voluble gentleman represented the County of Buncombe, in North Carolina. On one occasion a fellowmember interrupted an angry harangue to ask him why he was making so much fuss, to so little purpose before an almost empty House. “I am not speaking to the House, but to Buncombe.” replied the pompous orator. His answer has caused the name of that unfortunate constituency to'be for ever synonymous with hypocrisy and humbug; though at first it simply meant "playing to the gallery.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19350213.2.37
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Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 119, 13 February 1935, Page 7
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119The Romance of Words. BUNKUM Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 119, 13 February 1935, Page 7
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