Durham:
A phrase now forgotten anywhere outside of North Carolina, although it’s still useful, and seems to have been around for quite a while before the 1930s.
Durham: (noun) “bullshit.” Probably in reference to “Bull Durham” tobacco products based in Durham North Carolina.
None of this is a reference to the movie of the same name (which was definitely full of its measure of Durham,) nor apparently to either of the two baseball players who were also nicknamed “Bull” Durham, or the baseball team named “the Bulls” also based in Durham NC. That’s a lot of bulls. But why “bull” at all? Well…
Bull Durham smoking tobacco was introduced by W.T. Blackwell and Company in 1850, which was the first major tobacco company to establish itself in Durham, but not the last, since the town quickly became the tobacco warehousing capital of the United States. At some point, the company started using a bull on their labels and advertising, supposedly to tie the brand the English Durham mustard brand that used a bull on its labels, and thus give the product a little olde-world cred. Blackwell used the bull as early as 1897 for certain, and possibly earlier. The brand was so popular that the city itself was nicknamed “The Bull City.” And now the whole town is all about bulls… because of mustard.
