VP debate creates buzz about malarkey

The word of the day is malarkey.

Vice President Biden used the word three times in his debate Thursday night with Paul Ryan. The first came when he dismissed some of the GOP vice presidential nominee's explanations on foreign policy as "a bunch of malarkey."

Later, Biden called a Ryan response "a bunch of stuff." When asked by debate moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News what that meant, Biden said: "We Irish call it malarkey."

NPR has a fun post Friday about the origin of the word and whether it has any connection to the Irish, as Biden suggested. Dictionary.com says it's an informal word to describe speech or writing meant to "obscure, mislead or impress" -- kind of like "bunkum," another word that you don't hear often.

Google found that searches for the word "malarkey" were among the top rising search terms during the Thursday night debate, ahead of "who is winning the debate."

Whatever the etymology, Democrats didn't waste any time using the word and a picture of Biden to raise money for the House campaign committee. "We will not let Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and these Republicans get away with their malarkey," said the fundraising e-mail sent out less than a half-hour after Thursday's debate.