Mugwump is appropriate for Dumbledore

[darryl_oneill <darryl_oneill@yahoo.ca>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50237

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Judy M. Ellis 
<penumbra10 at y...>" <penumbra10 at y...> wrote:
> "Dan" wrote:
>> 
> >In 1884, the Republican presidential candidate James Blaine was 
> >linked to a corrupt deal. Some Republicans ditched their party 
for 
> >the Democrats because they were so put off by Blaine's lack of 
> >honesty.<snip> [They were called] "Mugwumps," meaning "Holier-
Than-
> >Thou." Odd how Dumbledore, in SS is credited with being the 
Supreme 
> >Mugwump...
>  
 The word itself is 
> American, however, derived from the Algonquin (Indian) dialect 
*mogki-
> -* meaning "great" and *--omp* meaning "chief." [Webster's Third 
New 
> International Dictionary]  
>   Although, since 1884,  it is rarely used outside of the American 
> political scene, it's primary non-political meaning is simply "a 
> person of importance."  Jo Rowling might have come across it in a 
> compendium of unusual words, since she collects unusual words to 
use 
> as names.  I found this link on the web which investigates English 
> from a Brit perspective.  It investigates the origins and meanings 
of 
> the word more thoroughly.
> :-)  Judy
> http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-mug1.htm

I had read the definition from the link that Judy provides
quite some time ago and I thought that it was very appropriate.  
Here is the section

"Mugwump was brought into English in the early nineteenth century as 
a humorous term for a boss, bigwig, grand panjandrum, or other 
person in authority, often one of a minor and inconsequential sort. "

Dumbledore is someone of great importance but he does not take 
himself too seriously.  I could see him listing this title jokingly 
along with all of his other titles.  Not only the boss of minor 
things but the supreme boss of minor things.

Someone else may have copied the title down without knowing that it 
was a joke and next thing you know your on a wizarding card.

Darryl