Chumpie, A Multipurpose Philadelphia Word

Hi there. You have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Alvin. I’m calling from Huntsville, Alabama.

How are you?

From Huntsville?

Yes.

What’s on your mind, Alvin?

I love the show. First of all, I just want to say I love the show.

I’m a big fan and a big word nerd.

Yay!

But I was listening to a show, I think maybe last week or two, and the caller called in and it made me think of a word that they weren’t talking about.

And the word I’m talking about is chumpy.

Chumpy it’s a word that I learned from a guy that I met my my sister was dating a guy she went to college in the Pennsylvania area and the her the guy she was dating was from Philadelphia.

So this is back in the late 80s maybe he he came with the word chumpy and I was just enthralled with it and I was wondering if you guys got some history on it.

Well how does chumpy fit into a conversation isn’t that the question everywhere bro oh I’m chumpy you’re chumpy everybody’s chumpy.

Chumpy is replaced it replaces any noun or pronoun pretty much out there and it’s great because it’s just fun to use.

I’ve heard Will Smith use it in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from time to time.

If you paid attention he’ll say yo that chumpy was fly right and he’s pure Philadelphia right.

He is pure.

Or he was.

Are you kidding me?

Well, yeah, he’s kind of Hollywood now.

But no, he’s still Philly.

We’re going to give Will Smith.

He keeps true.

He kept his card.

Okay.

Yeah.

But, yeah, so I was wondering if you were able to find any history on the word.

I’ve had friends from the area, and I can’t find anything on it.

And I love the word.

My wife hates it.

She hates when I say it.

And so it makes it more fun for me to say it.

So you use it more often?

Is that what you’re saying?

Yeah.

How do you use it?

Yeah.

Oh, well, I use that chumpy any way it goes.

You know, I’ll be like, this chumpy is delicious.

I went down to the chumpy and I saw the chumpy.

I was with my chumpy.

It’s literally that bad.

Very similar to the junk that comes from Philly.

You guys discussed that a little while ago.

We did.

I was guessing that was the call that you would listen to that made you think of chumpy.

John is another one of those placeholder words.

It just kind of fills in anything that you’re saying, any noun.

It could just be right in there.

And I’m sorry to say I don’t have a lot for this particular use of chumpy. It’s unusual. Wow. The earliest that I know is the 1980s, and that’s what you mentioned as well. You learned it in the 1980s, right? That’s correct. Yeah, I don’t know any earlier than that, but I would not be surprised if it’s much older than that.

There are a lot of different other chumpies, other slang terms, but they’re unrelated. You know, there’s a chumpy meaning insane, and there’s a chumpy meaning peculiar, and there’s a chumpy meaning chunky, and there’s a chumpy meaning happy. But these are all clearly not the same word. This word is really unusual.

And, of course, we have to mention chumpies, the African-American-owned brand of potato chips that start, but they started in 91. Kind of in a response to the popularity, I think. I think you’re right. Yeah, they were named after the slang word. So the slang word didn’t come from the chips. So at least that gives us like a firm date. We know that the word was definitely out there before 91. You remember it from the 80s. Dude, I don’t know. Alvin, we’re going to have to put the word out and see if any of our listeners can give us some more concrete information. I’d love to see something in print where somebody’s using it like in a yearbook or school newspaper or something.

But either way, it’s just fun. Philly has great fun slang. It sure does. Except for your wife. I’m going to go use it with her at least two or three times and just get on her nerves. It’s so much fun. That chubby is fun. Oh, dude. I’m with you. I don’t want to get between you and your wife, but I’m behind you all the way. But fun is fun. But if we find out more, we’ll put it on the show. I’m sure we got listeners everywhere, and I’m sure if somebody comes up with something, we’ll put it out there. We’ll let everyone know what we found out, all right?

Well, that chumpy sounds great. Yeah, all right. Thank you very much, Elvis. This has been a great chumpy. Indeed. You guys stay on top of the jump and keep doing well. Love the show. You guys, I’m a big fan. Thanks for having me. Call us with another chumpy sometime. How did I do that? I sure will. When I get one, you know I will. Thank you. Okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Have a good day. Take care.

Are you from Philly and use chumpy kind of as a placeholder word for just about anything? Let us know, 877-929-9673, or send us the evidence and email to words@waywordradio.org.