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AHA! I knew someone else out there had heard of mugwumps!

Zed #181529 01/07/09 04:08 PM
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Well, it may not endear the culprit to hoi polloi; but it is certainly a less uncomfortable way to straddle a fence.

Zed #181540 01/07/09 06:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: Zed
AHA! I knew someone else out there had heard of mugwumps!


mugwumps:
originally mogkiomp in the native Massachusset dialect
of the Algonquian meaning "great man", (mogki - "great", omp - "man").
So a person of status.


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Little did I ever know that when my grandmother
(herself, Native American) called her dog mugwump, it was
actually a compliment to the little pooch.


----please, draw me a sheep----
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I looked up this new to me word 'mugwump' and the various definitions did not make quite clear to me: does the word mean someone who can't decide which side to choose or someone who stands firm against the mainstream?

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Quinion: mugwump (notice link to 'bated breath' on the right)

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Originally Posted By: PastorVon
Well, it may not endear the culprit to hoi polloi; but it is certainly a less uncomfortable way to straddle a fence.


Hoi polloi is nominative plural. Following the preposition to it should be dative plural, tois pollois.

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Following the preposition to it should be dative plural

Audite, audite!


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
tsuwm #181561 01/08/09 09:49 AM
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Originally Posted By: tsuwm
Quinion: mugwump (notice link to 'bated breath' on the right)
Good site!

"Hence the old joke that a mugwump is a person sitting on the fence, with his mug on one side and his wump on the other."

So, synonimous to fence sitter. Also new to me. turncoat, turncloack. And wump is multi-interpretable I assume.

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Baby talk (w for r) version of rump or backside.

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