Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Does anyone have any theories as to the origin of the term “messing and gomming?” The first time I can recall hearing this term was about 10-15 years ago from my mother or one of my grandparents when they were talking about someone who was “up all night messing and gomming.” I thought that “messing and gomming” was a really weird term (and I still do). I can remember asking a cousin what it meant, and she defined it as “being very busy but accomplishing nothing.” I tend to associate this term with elderly folks who might have a slight touch of dementia (I don't want to get too gross, but it almost sounds like it has something to do with bodily functions), but if the Google results that I got from “messing and gomming” are any indication, younger people can “mess and gom” too (one usage example I found was “I shouldn't be messing and gomming with soap in the kitchen”).

The “messing” part of this doesn't seem to hard to figure out (the OED says that “mess” without the particles “with” or “up” can be a verb, but most of these meanings are related to serving food), but I'm not too clear on what “gomming” is (the OED has a few definitions for “gom,” but they're archaic words [one is a euphemism for "God"] that don't have anything to do with “messing and gomming.”) I have a feeling that “messing and gomming” is probably a regional term (I'm from West Texas), but I'm not sure. Anyone have any ideas?