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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Old Russian Proverbs Revisited #99543 03/27/03 08:12 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage OP Carpal Tunnel OP Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Recalling vika's contribution of the old Russian proverb about selling the bear's skin before the bear is killed; this etymology from Dave Wilton's Wordorigins site: http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorb.htm#Bulls and Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Old Russian Proverbs Revisited #99544 03/28/03 02:18 AM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Wow, that certainly was right on the mark, Faldage. Further down the page was a listing that made me think of our past discussion of debunk: Bunk "Bunk" is short for "bunkum," which in turn is an alteration of "Buncombe", the name of a county in North Carolina. In the year 1820, the "Missouri Question," whether Missouri should be admitted to the Union as a slave or a free state, was being hotly debated in Congress. Near the end of the debate and amidst calls from the floor to have a vote, Felix Walker, the representative from Buncombe rose to speak. Walker launched into what Safire describes as a "long, dull, irrelevant speech." When asked by other members to desist, he replied that he was bound to "make a speech for Buncombe," and continued to speak. This is how the word meaning something that is silly and irrelevant was born. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,913 Posts229,344 Members9,182 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV 9,182 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 782 guests, and 2 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 29 A C Bowden 20 LukeJavan8 2 ddrinnan 1 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 10,546 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,918 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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