By Jacquie Foote Is it because of the sameness of…
By Jacquie Foote Is it because of the sameness of the mass entertainment role models, or does it say something about the mediocrity of American…
By Jacquie Foote
Is it because of the sameness of the mass entertainment role models, or does it say something about the mediocrity of American education, but have you noticed the boring shallowness of invectives these days? It seems that when someone is mouthing-off at someone else, the words hurled are drearily the same … in fact, most of them are some variation of the four letter words that begin with f or s.
Now, Geaugans in the 1800s were well-read and had an interesting arsenal of words to call on when in need of a good insult or effective put down. Let’s consider a few.
The late 16th century saw the arrival of ninnyhammer, which was a mix of ninny (meaning lacking in intelligence or sense, i.e. stupid or half-witted) and hammer (which is believed to be derived from the ever popular hammer-headed meaning so dull witted your head is hard (thick) enough to drive a nail with).
In the early 1800s, ninnyhammer was still right up there with numskull (think numb skull) and clod-pated (clod as in dirt and pate meaning skull). Nowadays, this elegant term for a fool or simpleton has all but disappeared.
Another elderly pejorative is nincompoop, a word coined back in the 1670s. Ranked as one of the most enjoyable words in the English language to pronounce, it can be heard even today when insults are hurled by well-educated or well-read people. It is most often used to describe someone of lower ranking, but more than one leader in government has been called an utter nincompoop. One source mentioned that in military circles, an incompetent noncommissioned officer might be called a noncompoop … although not necessarily to his face.
Where did this delightful bit of invective come from? Well, some have noticed the similarity between nincompoop and Latin legal phrase non compos mentis meaning insane, mentally incompetent” (c.1600). But, in the 1670s, the word was spelled nicompoop, which has led etymologists to deny that this bit of invective was derived from the Latin phrase. They point to the fact that the earliest form of the word lacked the second n. Some believe the first syllable of nincompoop may have come from a proper name, perhaps Nicodemus, which was used in French for “a fool.” (Another early spelling of the word in question was nickumpoop.)
Some have speculated that the word is a nonsense word that combines elements of other words implying ignorance or stupidity. For example, an older word “ninny (believed to be a corruption of “innocent”) meant a nave or gullible person and in Dutch; the word poop was often used to describe a fool. So … did nincompoop come to be because someone wanted to combine multiple insults into a fun to say word?
For information on the events at the Geauga County Historical Society’s Burton Century Village Museum, call 440-834-1492 or visit www.geaugahistorical.org.
