"Gravscan i think the word is bumkin, or is bunkum a...

"Gravscan i think the word is bumkin, or is bunkum a word?"


dmaleny,

There are two similar-sounding words, bunkum and bumpkin. Bunkum means nonsense. A bumpkin is a yokel or hick, or alternatively a spar on a sailing boat. I think the word "bunkum" was right for my purposes (and those of Nine Lives, who I was replying to).

The "Answers.com" explanation follows:

Bunkum also buncombe

Empty or insincere talk; claptrap.

[After Buncombe, a county of western North Carolina, from a remark made around 1820 by its congressman, who felt obligated to give a dull speech "for Buncombe".]

Grav