mithriltabby | Vocabulary for our times (Reply)

divertimento recently ~~lent~~ gave me E. Haldeman-Julius’ The Outline of Bunk, including the Admirations of a Debunker (1929), which opens with a lovely definition of bunkum:

When our Republic had the proud though sometimes awkward strut of youth and before the growth of culture and skepticism had recruited a lively army of debunkers, there was a Congressman from Buncombe County, North Carolina, who achieved notoriety even in that day for the flood of bombastic nonsense that he poured forth. He talked, as he said, “only for Buncombe.” All of which was intended simply to tickle the ears and swell with vanity the diaphragms of the voters, assuring their support for the good old Congressman from Buncombe, a man of the people. Shortly, Buncombe became a common descriptive term— buncombe— signifying remarks uttered, without regard to truth or sincerity or pertinence, for the purpose of swaying the crowd in behalf of a candidate for office, or any man who wanted something, or any movement that was trying to put itself over.
“Buncombe” meant a tricky, specious appeal to the crowd. It implied, not sound discussion and a genuine effort to place the truth on view, but oratory consisting of catchphrases, platitudes, sentimentalities, and the like.

If political discourse ever moved past the era of the blathering of Felix Walker, it has surely devolved to that point in these benighted times. But it reminds me that the English language has quite a number of delightful terms for bullshit that have fallen out of common use. (If the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis holds true, it may reflect on our culture.) Here are some choice ones that are rather apt for the present day:

balderdash has its origins in a worthless mixture of liquors. As a term for nonsense, it is particularly appropriate for the arguments put forward by the opponents of evolution and global warming, where people cherry-pick facts to deceive their audience.
poppycock has “dung” in one of its root words, which makes it an excellent prime-time replacement for bullshit.
humbug is a general term for hoaxes and fraud, such as the pack of lies that led the United States in to the Iraq war.
calumny refers to the malicious attempts to tarnish character without bringing in the legal weight of such words as slander and libel.
claptrap’s origins lie in contrivances for gaining applause, making it an appropriate description for any talking point calculated to trigger knee-jerk reactions.

The English language has many terms for nonsense; are there any others that should return to common use?