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mugwump (MUHG-wump) - n., (pejorative) a person who acts independently or remains neutral, especially in politics; a person unable to make up their mind on an important issue; (US politics, usually capitalized) a Republican who refused to support the party nominee, James G. Blaine, in the presidential campaign of 1884.
First entered the American flavor of English in 1832, adopted from an Algonquin language, probably either Massechusett or Natick, mugquomp, great man, syncopated form of muggumquomp, war leader. At the time it was used complementary, but during the contentious presidential race of 1884, many Republicans refused to support Blaine and switched sides to support Grover Cleveland, who won in a close election. The New York Sun snidely called them "little mugwumps," and the sense immediately switched to turncoat: in The Devil's Dictionary, it's defined "In politics, one afflicted with self-respect and addicted to the vice of independence." I expect use of this term to go up in the months ahead, pointed at both pro-Saunders Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans.
---L.
First entered the American flavor of English in 1832, adopted from an Algonquin language, probably either Massechusett or Natick, mugquomp, great man, syncopated form of muggumquomp, war leader. At the time it was used complementary, but during the contentious presidential race of 1884, many Republicans refused to support Blaine and switched sides to support Grover Cleveland, who won in a close election. The New York Sun snidely called them "little mugwumps," and the sense immediately switched to turncoat: in The Devil's Dictionary, it's defined "In politics, one afflicted with self-respect and addicted to the vice of independence." I expect use of this term to go up in the months ahead, pointed at both pro-Saunders Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans.
---L.
