This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
mumpsimus
fustilarian
hobbledehoy
makebate
bellygod

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MUMP-suh-muhs)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A view stubbornly held in spite of clear evidence that it's wrong.
2. A person who holds such a view.

ETYMOLOGY:

According to an old story, a priest used the nonsense word mumpsimus (instead of Latin sumpsimus) in the Mass. Even when told it was incorrect, he insisted that he had been saying it for 40 years and wouldn't change it. The expression is "quod in ore sumpsimus" ('which we have taken into the mouth'). Earliest documented use: 1530.

USAGE:

"She knows the boss's behavior is wrong but mumpsimus has set in."
Mary Lou Dobbs; Repotting Yourself; O Books; 2010.

"Do not be a mumpsimus about networking. ... Resist the popular notion that networking is all fake sincerity and pushy behavior."
Dean Lindsay; Cracking the Networking Code; World Gumbo; 2005.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: