51吃瓜 of the Day
More about bunkum
Bunkum means 鈥渋nsincere talk by a politician鈥� and is an alteration of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. Bunkum is an all-American word that fittingly enough derives from a debate in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 16th United States Congress (1819-21) during the House debate about the admission of Missouri as a state into the Union. This so-called 鈥淢issouri Question鈥� was extremely important, because it dealt with whether Missouri entered the Union as a Free State or Slave State. (Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Maine was admitted as a Free State, Missouri as a Slave State.) Just before the vote was called, Felix Walker (1753-1828), U.S Representative from North Carolina, began a long, tedious, irrelevant, dull, and exasperating speech. His House colleagues tried to shout him down, but Walker persisted, saying that he was obliged to say something for the newspapers back home to prove that he was doing his job: “I shall not be speaking to the House, but to Buncombe.”
how is bunkum used?
It’s bunkum to suppose we can be touched by tragedies other than our own.
According to the Mail worldview of recent years, dignified British ways are under attack, mauled by vain liberal cosmopolitans, crafty foreigners, and fashionable bunkum.
bunkum
aoristic
adjective
indefinite; indeterminate.
More about aoristic
Aoristic 鈥渋ndeterminate, undefined,鈥� comes from Greek 补辞谤颈蝉迟颈办贸蝉, a derivative of the verbal adjective 补贸谤颈蝉迟辞蝉 鈥渦nlimited, unbounded, indeterminate, debatable,鈥� which is a compound of the negative prefix a-, an– (from the same Proto-Indo-European source as un– in English and in– in Latin), and the verbal adjective 丑辞谤颈蝉迟贸蝉 鈥渄efinable (of words), delimited (of property or land).鈥� 贬辞谤颈蝉迟贸蝉 comes from the verb 丑辞谤铆锄别颈苍 鈥渢o divide, separate,鈥� whose present active masculine participle 丑辞谤铆锄艒苍 鈥渟eparating,鈥� when modifying the noun 办媒办濒辞蝉 鈥渃ircle鈥� (鈥渢he separating circle鈥�) refers to the (apparent) circle separating the land from the sea, the horizon. 贬辞谤铆锄艒苍 办媒办濒辞蝉 seems to be a coinage of Aristotle鈥檚; so it can be trusted. Aoristic entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is aoristic used?
Because Gideon is away indefinitely our lives seem bracketed in a kind of aoristic limbo where things happen haphazardly, without an ordered sequence.
She caught at the nerves like certain aoristic combinations in music, like tones of a stringed instrument swept by the wind, enticing, unseizable.
aoristic
guileless
adjective
sincere; honest; straightforward; frank.
More about guileless
Guileless means 鈥渨ithout guile, sincere, honest, frank.鈥� Guile comes from Middle English gile, guile 鈥渁 crafty or fraudulent trick, double-dealing,鈥� from Old French guile 鈥渓ie, trick, deception,鈥� most likely from a Germanic source. The problem is: Which Germanic language or languages? From the point of view of phonetics, Old French guile could very well come from Germanic 飞墨濒, but sources are lacking: Old English 飞墨濒 鈥渄evice, trick鈥� may itself be a borrowing from Old French. Old Norse 惫茅濒 鈥渁rtifice, device, trick鈥� is wrong for phonetic reasons. Guileless entered English in the first half of the 18th century.
how is guileless used?
Looking at them is an exercise in nostalgia not only for the languid California of the early seventies, or the looseness offered by working in a medium that had little respect from the art world and therefore no money, but for a moment when, even if only in the world of these images, the encounter between self and stranger could be guileless.
Guileless? Guess again, sister. There is nothing remotely guileless聽about this guy
guileless