Posted on 07/05/2012 4:36:02 AM PDT by secret garden
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
mumpsimus \MUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun
1. Adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy.
2. A person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice.
Example sentences:
"I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, from habit's sake, his old Mumpsimus...
-- Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman
Mr. Burgess, who sticks (I fancy) to his old mumpsimus, thought that the other gentleman might have given the canoe a shove to get it clear of the lock…
-- Ronald A. Knox, The Footsteps at the Lock
Etymology:
Mumpsimus comes from a story (perhaps first told by Erasmus) about an illiterate priest who mispronounced a word while reciting the liturgy. The priest refused to change the word, even when he was corrected.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check out posts #92 and #111 on this thread!)
Review Thread Two: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/14/03: Roister
Review Thread Three: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/28/03: Obdurate
WFB's attempt to emulate us ; ) No pushing at the door please!
Rise and shine!
"...mumpsimus...a condition you get while having the mumps that affects your pronunciation of the word sinus"
A+ for you!
Good morning. I just woke up and cannot think of a good example of mumpsimus, although I know there are many that abound on FreeRepublic.
Here. Let me help you out while you get the coffee started:
"I could care less" used to mean "I could not care less".
OK. I’m little bit awake now.
The nation has had an unfamiliar word thrust upon us in the past few weeks — derecho — due to the violent storms that swept DC. In trepidation that I might engage in a mumpsimus after seeing derecho used in report, after report, and never hearing it pronounced, I looked it up on the Web and was surprised to discover that my first inclination to pronounce it dar’—ee—ko is wrong. So, to avoid an embarrassing mumpsimus, I’ve been practicing the correct pronunciation which is more like dare—eh’—cho.
http://www.forvo.com/word/derecho/
Seems as though it ought to be “Senator Mumpsimus”.
Excellent, and my husband is making the coffee right now!
Twenty somethings saying “my bad” instead of “It was my mistake.”
I speak spanish so it is familiar to me, but they are saying that it means STRAIGHT as in straight line winds. I am more familiar with the Spanish word DERECHO meaning RIGHT, as in “derechos humanos”, human rights. “a la derecho”, means to the right, “a la izquierda” means to the left, and the word for LEFTIST is “izquierdista”.
Towards Holder, I’m bristling with animus
As he keeps putting forward the mumpsimus
That his “contempt” has no basis
It’s just that we’re racist
The lies of a true rectus maximus
I studied French, and I like their word for left — “sinistre”.
Mumpsimus
This mumpsimus will need our DCT, that’s Deep Cyphering Tek-nee-que.
Mump is a lump turned into a mountain and si mas sounds like Spanish for “yes, more” so maybe this Sir Water Scotch fella was Spanish.
Now I know it was spelled simus not simas but spelling is just opinion and opinions are like fleas, they come and go.
So let’s not get all in tell lectual here and start wearing glasses and underwear every day and stuff.
The mumpsimus of Bawney Fwank is unrelated to that particular viral malady (although no doubt others are present), nor is it necessarily due to any "residue" remaining from prior "encounters" -- it's basically the same vicious crap you hear from most Libs time & time again...
Furthermore, I live in the mid-west where we’ve had straight line winds all the time. We just call them “straight-line tornados”. We don’t need no “steenkin” Spanish word to explain the destruction. A derecho blew the steeple off of my stable in 1989 and another derecho blew the back doors of my barn open and flipped them onto the roof in about 2003, or 2004. I lost my home owner’s insurance after that one. They paid, but they cancelled me.
Another derecho blew right down the main street of Cedarburg about a mile from me about 10 years ago and broke, or uprooted, all of the 100-150 year old trees that lined Washington Ave. Nobody diagnosed it as a derecho at the time. “Straight line tornado” was the diagnosis here. Midwesterners don’t whine, and they don’t put on airs. They just clean up and carry on.
it is uncommon here.
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