Topic awaiting preservation: shades of forrest gump

according to Merriam Webster

The Word of the Day for November 13 is:

gumption ? \GUMP-shun\ ? noun
1 chiefly dialect : common sense, horse sense
*2 : enterprise, initiative

Example sentence:
"It took a lot of gumption to keep the family farm going," said Jake, "when all the farmers around us were selling out to developers."

Did you know?
English speakers have had "gumption" (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term's exact origins aren't known, but its earliest known uses are found in British and especially Scottish dialects (which also include the forms "rumblegumption" and "rumgumption"). In its earliest uses, "gumption" referred to intelligence or common sense, especially when those qualities were combined with high levels of energy. By the 1860s, American English speakers were also using "gumption" to imply ambition or tenacity, but it wasn't until the early 1900s that "gumption" began to appear in English texts as a direct synonym of "courage" or "get-up-and-go." American showman P.T. Barnum also claimed that "gumption" named a particular kind of hard cider, but that sense is far from common today.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

edit: oops - the date up there says it's the 14th - duh *hic

[This message has been edited by outcydr (edited 11-14-2003).]

Very common word here in New England.

Maybe not so much in other parts of the country...?

I've read it a lot in English class from British literature, but never used it. Actually, I've NEVER heard anybody use it in normal conversation.

__________________
War is Peace,
Freedom is Slavery,
Ignorance is Strength.

Still in use in Lancashire and Yorkshire over here - I'm sure both my grandfathers used it frequently.

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Emps

The Emperor dot org

My mother uses that word and I am very familiar with it thinking back over my childhood. But it wasn't until I read this post that I realized I have not heard it used in many a year. My mom comes from Wisconsin so I assume it's more commonly used there. Thanks for invoking those memories for me, outcydr

. . : slicePuzzle

Yup, commonly heard when I was growing up. Not heard too often in Korea. I think the Korean equivalent might be ggang, but that might be stretching it.


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Suho: www.liminality.org

My parents families are both Southern, and I heard that word a lot growing up... Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure my father still uses it.


Cell 617

Being from the Northwest, never really heard it used. Now, 'what in tarnation?', and 'old as dirt' was used quite a bit in our little circle of geeks and jocks...don't really know why.

Where I grew up, if a jock used the word "tarnation" he would most likely be beaten to death by his fellow jocks.


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org

I have nothing to add, I just wanted to thank Suho for making me spit pepsi all over myself as I read his post. I agree there, tarnation is not to be used by jocks, but beat to death, lol.

You know what, you guys cool got words. 'My generation' get stupid ethnic phrases like 'dog' 'fo shizzle' 'tight' and 'rice, bro.' I prefer to stick with 'cool' and 'sucks' for one word descriptions but I just can't help but feel like the world is going down the drain when I hear two kids walking around going: 'Hey dog, 'sup' 'Nuttin, gunna get down 'wit a ho t'night' 'fo shizzle mah nizzle.' I mean, thats sunk pretty low.

[This message has been edited by cfb (edited 11-17-2003).]

Ram: It gives me a warm feeling inside to know that I can brighten someone's day just a little bit (and simultaneously make them spit Pepsi all over themselves).



cfb: Clue me in on "rice, bro." I can pretty much guess "dog" from context, "tight" has been in use long enough for me to have a handle on it, and DL once explained "fo shizzle" to me. I am not familiar with "rice," though. Well, besides eating it every day.


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Suho: www.liminality.org

"Reintarnation: Being ressurected as a hill-billy"

I vaguely recall an advert which ran when I was a boy.
"Bring out [on?] the Gumption" (It was an advert for a household cleaning product).

Feeling a bit vague about that memory now though... maybe it was a dream?

Can someone explain "fo shizzle mah nizzle" to me, too?

Conjecture leads me to "for sure, my N-word" -- is that right?

And I find it disturbingly fascinating that society has turned to making up complete jargon rather than acquiring a larger vocabulary from the expansive list of words we already have.

Wes - exactly, and you can thank Snoop Dogg and the hip-hop culture for all of that...

I can barely understand most of what my students say to me these days... What's worse, is often they can't understand me either!
It is truly sad when a well-read vocabulary has to compete with that learned on MTV.



Cell 617