MAGIC WORDS • Outstanding, excellent -- David K Barnhart, America in So Many Words (1997) Origins: Bunkum derives from the name Buncombe, a county in North Carolina which, in 1819, had a notoriously long-winded Representative.41 Variations and Incantations: • bunco (meaning to swindle) • bunk (nonsense) "History is bunk" -- Henry Ford In Literature: • "Cara picks up her well-thumbed book of magic spells and flicks through the pages until she stops at a particular hex and smiles contentedly. 'Are you sure we should be doing this?' I don't believe in this load of old bun kum, but I wouldn't want Cara to conjure up something nasty with several heads and a spiteful nature in our living room." -- Carole Matthews, Bare Necessity (200 ) • "I remember it well! Its horn handle, so smooth and clear, glowing with the unmeaning, but magic word, 'Bunkum;' and the blade significantly inviting you to the test, by the two monosyllables, 'Try me.'" -- Charles W. Sanders, Sanders' Union Fourth Reader (1864) But Mystique: "[T]here's one word that is both splendid and terrible and I of ten ponder its mystery. The word is 'but.' A traffic cop of a word. A word of terror and beauty. For instance: 'I'd love to go out with you Saturday night, but . . .' 'You certainly have all the qualifications for the job, but . . .' Or: 'It was a lovely Christmas, but . . .' But -- and there's the magic of the word -- it can also be used in marvelous ways: 'I had planned to go away this weekend, but . . .' Or: 'We really didn't have an opening at the moment, but . . .' Or: 'The X rays do show a shadow there, but . . .' Or: 'I'm going to be busy until ten o'clock, but . . .' Thus it can be a word of hope."42 Professional magician Kenton Knepper (The Mystic of Magic) considers but "one of those power words people use against themselves and others with few being aware of this fact. The word 'but' tends to cancel out or erase what is said before it, and suggests that what follows it is the actual truth. I know at first you may not believe that, but such is the case as science has proved. If you ever were told, 'I love you but, you sure can be a pain' or 'I love you but . . .' followed by anything -- chances are you focused on 41 David K. Barnhart, American in So Many Words (1997) 42 Robert Cormier, I Have Words to Spend: Reflections of a Small-Town Editor (1994)