[HPforGrownups] Mugwumps

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 3369

"Mugwump" is from an American Indian word for someone who is knowledgeable and powerful. It was applied to a
political elite. [I'd read the derivation before, and knew only that it was *not* from the "mugs on one side" etc.
quote. My husband the historical trivia factory remembered this. We're not sure of the tribe.] But the humorous
snippet came after the term was applied, it wasn't the source.

--Amanda

Sarah Rettger wrote:

> 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
>
> =====
> 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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