Record #:

8690

Author(s):

Walser, Richard

Abstract:

In the late 18th- and early 19th-centuries, the U.S. Congress allowed senators to orate long speeches every Saturday. These speeches were written down and printed in newspapers. One Saturday in 1820, North Carolina senator Felix Walker announced he wanted to “make a speech for Buncombe.” He then launched into a speech lasting several hours during which he did not say anything useful. Such a speech became known as BUNCOMBE and appears in the unabridged Merriam-Webster English dictionary.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 49 Issue 6, Nov 1981, p11-12, por, bibl

Subject(s):

United States. Congress. Senate