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#146820 08/23/05 09:14 AM
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I have a question regarding the origin, use, and meaning of the term "swamp out" as it relates to cleaning, e.g., "I have to swamp out the condo for visitors". I think I 'know' what it means, but can't find a really suitable reference.


#146821 08/23/05 10:19 AM
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welcome, MadDog!

I'm not sure that ever heard the usage, but it might be some sort of formation from sweep and mop?



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#146822 08/23/05 10:27 AM
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That's a new one on me. I googled "swamp out" and found that the term is being used to describe the displacement of one thing by another, such as one type of plant that swamps out another. The verb to swamp, of course, means submerge, and this appears to be a variation on that idea.

But I wonder if this use you describe is a variation on "swab out".

TEd



TEd
#146823 08/23/05 12:03 PM
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My thinking too, TEd. "Swamp out" doesn't make much sense to me - of course, idiom often doesn't, on the face of it.


#146824 08/23/05 12:11 PM
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ah, the mighty eggcorn...



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#146825 08/25/05 01:15 AM
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I am more familiar with the expression "Mucking Out The Byre" from the song of the same name. Might these two terms be in any way related?


#146826 08/25/05 05:24 AM
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and then there's mucking in poker: tossing in a bad hand without showing it (and, sometimes, lying about it; e.g., "I mucked a pair of aces!"


#146827 08/25/05 01:36 PM
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I've only come across mucking in the context of "mucking out the stables." That sounds pretty much self-explanatory and provides a unifying theme for the above usages...


#146828 08/25/05 02:00 PM
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>>mucking

Really not such a bad job -- if you like the horse.


#146829 08/25/05 02:06 PM
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Mucking mallecho? Miching? Whom?



Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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