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Joined: Oct 2004
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 4 |
My old boss used the expression: We have employees up the gump stump -- meaning "we have a lot of employees." Any clues as to the derivation?
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I'm a little afraid to know this one.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
How come you never asked him where it came from? I would have been too curious, and just halted the conversation to ask. When somebody comes up with an expression like that you just know they love to tell the story behind it, no.
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
We have employees up the gump stump -- meaning "we have a lot of employees." Any clues as to the derivation?
"Gump stump" is a contraction of "Gump stumped by everything", a reviewer's light-hearted assessment of Forrest Gump, the lead character played by Tom Hanks in the 1994 movie of the same name.
Your boss wasn't exactly saying you had "too many" employees. He was saying too many of your employees were as "Gump stumped" as Forrest Gump.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Well, unlike the previous poster, I wouldn't presume to tell you what your boss meant, bevman. I have a vague recollection of hearing the expression "out the gump stump" meaning the same thing: in excess. And that was in Alabama. Kinda like up or out the yin(g)-yang (now where did that expression come from?).
This doesn't answer your question, but I wanted to let you know I've heard something similar.
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 74
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 74 |
This seems to be a slightly different sense:
“Interest rates are so bad,” says Fletcher, whose twinkling eyes and sharp mind defy her years. Sitting next to a portrait of George and Laura Bush she got in the mail, she adds that interest from her CDs has dropped to all-time lows. “It's terrible. … If it wasn't for Social Security, I'd be up a gump stump.”
Kansas City Star Oct 3, 2004
THE MGMT
The Lone Haranguer
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
"Gump stump" is a contraction of "Gump stumped by everything"
The ultimate inspiration for "Gump stump" can be found in this oft-quoted passage in the #1 best-selling book and movie:
"Whenever I really get stumped, I go visit Jenny's grave. She tells me she's always rooting for me."
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I have no idea whether this is relevant, but I found this in an "EXCERPT FROM TRANSCRIPT OF MEETING WITH
THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2003":
Now, those employees f or four years have been sitting in limbo with EEO complaints, working in hostile environments in places like Gump Stump, Mississippi Not only are they being hurt economically and socially, I have been in contact with these employees and there is also a physical danger involved. Its not like they are working in Vallejo or Washington D.C., they are in some very remote areas.
And, there's a song called "Opossom Up A Gump Stump" and one called "Rabbit up a gump stump"; hmm--given that plus the ref. to MS, I wonder if the song refers to a gumbo tree.
Here's a quote from a school site that sounds like it has your meaning, bev--welcome aBoard, by the way: We have coordinators, facilitators, special this and special that, up the gump stump.
I also found this quote: If it wasn't for Social Security, I'd be up a gump stump.” And this one:I've been licensed, tenured and degreed up the gump stump.
So, apparently the phrase has at least two meanings: 1.) a whole lot, and 2.) in trouble. Wow--if you find the REAL origin, do post it, please!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
sounds like a synonym for wazoo to me...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
"Opossom Up A Gump Stump"
I'd always heard it as "Possum up a Gum Stump"; Google agrees with me 539 to 2. I wonder if this is a case of, whaddayacallit*, when you add a sound because it's easier to say, like the b in chimbley (or, if you don't like that one the b in hombre).
Help me out here, nuncle
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