What is C A T really spelled dog.

[scrooloose]

Discuss. What is words that you know just for some reason had a different meaning.

[Averett]

Huh? You mean what if cat was really spelled dog?

Questions like that hurt my hair.

[Casus Belli]

i don't get it either.

[uncle phil]

edit: moved to nonsense...

[Rubyee]

What if poop was really spelled sweet? Would we say that strawberries smelled poopie?

[Redlemon]

Mumpsimus

1. One who adheres to an old habit in spite of clear evidence that it is wrong.
2. An old custom obstinately kept although it is known to be in error.

According to the tale, there was once a medieval monk who persistently said a phrase in the Latin Eucharist wrongly, either because he was illiterate and had learned it that way or because it had been transcribed incorrectly in his copy.

Instead of "quod in ore sumpsimus", he would say "quod in ore mumpsimus". Now 'sumpsimus' is Latin for "we have taken" (the full phrase means "which we have taken into the mouth"), but 'mumpsimus' is just nonsense.

What made this particular mistake memorable is what the monk was supposed to have said when he was corrected. According to the version of the incident told in 1517 by Richard Pace, later the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London, the monk replied that he had said it that way for forty years and "I will not change my old 'mumpsimus' for your new 'sumpsimus'".

As a result, the word came to be applied to someone who sticks obstinately to their old ways, in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong. The word can also have the related meaning of some custom or notion that is adhered to, even though it has been shown to be unreasonable.

Some references suggest that the story may have been first told by Pace's friend Erasmus; there's also a hint that it may really have been an oft-told joke in medieval times. The word is first recorded in 1530 in a book by William Tyndale, the first translator of the Bible into English, called _The Practice of Prelates_. It was given royal approval in 1545, when Henry VIII referred to it in a speech:

"Some be too stiff in their old mumpsimus, others be too busy and curious in their sumpsimus".

It has, perhaps surprisingly, stayed in the language as a learned joke for more than 400 years, and is still to be stumbled over from time to time.

[Derwood]

"Inflammable means flammable? What a country!"

[SaltPork]

What if green was blue and red was green and yellow was red? That would be fucked up.

[Redlemon]

Originally posted by wrkime
What if green was blue and red was green and yellow was red? That would be fucked up.

How do you know it isn't? I mean, just because we both point at something and say 'red' doesn't mean that I'm not seeing your orange and you aren't seeing my purple.





Don't look at my purple. Perv.

[paddyjoe]

Originally posted by redlemon
Don't look at my purple. Perv.

Oh man, that is really wierd. Of course that could mean really cool. Then again, it could mean rotten. Or, groovy. Maybe stupid And you know umm............fuck what the hell, bye

[Peetster]

*I interrupt this thread to bring you an important announcement*

This thread has been reported to the mods as having no content. I disagree slightly. Redlemon's Mumpsimus post was informative, and there was some good input from others.

But hey, it's nonsense, post whatever, right? We have no problems here. Move along, folks, nothing to see.

*We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense*