Mugwumps

[Sarah Rettger]

No: HPFGUIDX 3351

Mugwump is a term from New York politics towards the
end of the 19th century.  While groups like Tammany
Hall were very involved in machine politics (a system
in which the "machine" of each party decided who the
candidates would be and, through various means, got
the people of the ward to vote for the candidate),
some politicians refused to get involved with one
particular machine.  They were known as mugwumps
because, according to one source, they had "their mugs
[faces] on one side of the fence and their wumps on
the other."  I'm not sure exactly what meaning the
word has taken on today, but it certainly was not
complimentary in its original sense.

Sarah



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Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase.  That's what wild geese are for. -- Anon.

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. -- A. A. Milne

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