Hump Day Hope & Humor!

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Words to help you make it over the Hump Day slump!

The following Wednesday Words may be deemed “intelligent insults” or “pretentious putdowns”; either way, these terms are actually found in the dictionary and are great fun!

Cockalorum:  a boastful and self-important person; a strutting little fellow. The word suggests a crowing cock, and probably derives from kockeloeren, an obsolete Dutch dialect verb meaning “to crow.”

Snollygoster:  an unprincipled but shrewd person.  First used in the nasty politics of 19th -century America. A newspaper editor explained in 1895 that “a snollygoster is a fellow who wants office, regardless of party, platform or principles….”

Ninnyhammer:  ninny; simpleton, fool.  J.R.R. Tolkien used the word in the Lord of the Rings trilogy: “You’re nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee.”

Mumpsimus:  a stubborn person who insists on making an error in spite of being shown that it is wrong. This insult supposedly originated with an illiterate priest who said mumpsimus instead of sumpsimus during mass. The latter, Latin term translates “we have taken.” Even when corrected, the stubborn priest refused to say the right word.  (For more fun with words visit Merriam-Webster.com)

Parting thought: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” (—Muhammad Ali)

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