May 5, 2008
Where We Get Both Hokum and Bunkum
I looked up the etymology of the word "hokum" because I wanted to make sure I was using it correctly in an article I was working on. Fascinating! Turns out that hokum is a blend of the words "hocus-pocus" and "bunkum" -- the latter of which has its own great history:
From Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. On 25 Feb 1820, Felix Walker, a US Congress person (whose territory included Buncombe County, NC) gave a rambling speech on the Missouri question with little relevance to the current debate. Walker refused to yield the floor, informing his colleagues that his speech was not intended for Congress but that he was "speaking for Buncombe."
Wonderful stuff. I was so surprised to find that hokumandbunkum.com was available that I had to have it. I don't know what I might do with it, but was too good to pass up.
etymology
April 30, 2008
And Per Se And
Some notes on how typographers Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones have rendered the ampersand in a handful of their different fonts. As for the word itself:
[F]olk etymologies abound. The likeliest account, offered by the OED, is explained by early alphabet primers in which the symbol was listed after X, Y, Z as "&: per se, and." Meaning "&: in itself, 'and'", and inevitably pronounced as "and per se and", it's a quick corruption to "ampersand," and the rest is history.
etymology, typography
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