I can't prove it but I think this comes from two places: 'scoot' and 'scotch', sort of a blend of both. I've heard 'a scotch more' used in bars (though quite rarely), where I like to think it comes from the legendary parsimony of the Scots. I think that where 'scooch' or 'scootch' is used as 'move a little bit,' that just came emerged from its similarity to 'scoot'. So, "scooch over a little bit" might be redundant.
Oddly, I've been using this word without realizing that it already existed and had a meaning. I've been using this word like, "Look at this shop - when every available surface is dripping with Valentine's Day mummock, it's just so tacky." Or, "When I was young I really liked Hanson. I had posters, t-shirts, a lunchbox, bobbleheads, all sorts of mummock that I threw away when I got to high school." Or, "Shingle your roof red, white, and blue; put flag pins on your Uncle Sam hat; cover your car with magnetic ribbons - none of that mummock makes you a patriot." Sort of a catchall term for themed detritus, I suppose, though it connotes an annoyance at a kind of brainwashed consumer excess. Also used like, "That box is filled with mummock from Aunt Dolores, when we cleaned out her apartment after she died." Not quite garbage- not quite a keepsake; more important than 'stuff' but not as important as 'things'. I pronounce it 'MUH-muck' (rhyme: hummock) not 'Moo-muck'.
Comments by ubnin
Ubnin commented on the word hendecagonal
perhaps a picture would help?
May 30, 2009
Ubnin commented on the word cozened
Shades of 'hoodwinked' or 'conned', 'recognized as a mark or rube', or perhaps 'deceptively known'
May 27, 2009
Ubnin commented on the word scooch
I can't prove it but I think this comes from two places: 'scoot' and 'scotch', sort of a blend of both. I've heard 'a scotch more' used in bars (though quite rarely), where I like to think it comes from the legendary parsimony of the Scots. I think that where 'scooch' or 'scootch' is used as 'move a little bit,' that just came emerged from its similarity to 'scoot'. So, "scooch over a little bit" might be redundant.
May 27, 2009
Ubnin commented on the word mummock
Oddly, I've been using this word without realizing that it already existed and had a meaning. I've been using this word like, "Look at this shop - when every available surface is dripping with Valentine's Day mummock, it's just so tacky." Or, "When I was young I really liked Hanson. I had posters, t-shirts, a lunchbox, bobbleheads, all sorts of mummock that I threw away when I got to high school." Or, "Shingle your roof red, white, and blue; put flag pins on your Uncle Sam hat; cover your car with magnetic ribbons - none of that mummock makes you a patriot." Sort of a catchall term for themed detritus, I suppose, though it connotes an annoyance at a kind of brainwashed consumer excess. Also used like, "That box is filled with mummock from Aunt Dolores, when we cleaned out her apartment after she died." Not quite garbage- not quite a keepsake; more important than 'stuff' but not as important as 'things'. I pronounce it 'MUH-muck' (rhyme: hummock) not 'Moo-muck'.
May 27, 2009