Shammick, Shummick

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, my name is Paul Gatone. I’m calling from Tucson, Arizona.

Hi, Paul. Welcome to the show. What’s up?

When I was a kid, my mom used the term ragamuffin.

Like if you were trying to go out of the house, maybe to school or wherever, and you had clothes on that were ripped or dirty, or if you look particularly disheveled, she’d say, you can’t go out of the house looking like a ragamuffin.

So now that I’m an adult and a couple, not long ago, one of my daughters was about to go to school and she had a shirt on with a big stain on it.

And of course I said, can’t go out of the house looking like a ragamuffin.

And my wife asked me what exactly a ragamuffin is.

And my only answer was, I really don’t know.

But apparently you’re not supposed to go out of the house looking like one.

Isn’t it so weird when your parents’ words come out of your own mouth?

I know. You become your parents, right?

Any guesses what a ragamuffin is or originally was?

You know, when I hear the word ragamuffin, I think of like a character in a Charles Dickens novel.

You know, some street kid. I don’t know.

Something along those lines. Ripped clothes, dirty clothes, like a street urchin.

I like it. I like it.

Or sometimes people use the term ragamuffin to refer to a troublemaker or a hooligan.

But certainly your usage describing your daughter’s attire is right on.

And the term ragamuffin itself is a real, it’s actually a mess itself.

It’s kind of a ragamuffin of a word, isn’t it, Grant?

It really is.

It’s a lot of mystery about it in any case.

Yeah, the origin of this term is quite a mess.

In fact, I sympathize with the 18th century lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who defined ragamuffin as a paltry mean fellow.

And then he says, from rag, and I know not what else.

But what we can tell you, Paul, is that in the 14th century, a long time ago, ragamuffin was a name for the devil.

And so was the term rag man.

And the story that I like about this word, and it’s by no means conclusive, but the one that I like about it is that ragamuffin comes from a combination of this and an expression in a northern English dialect, Aldmuffy, which was another name for the devil.

So it might be that ragamuffin originally was just some form of, you know, a redundant like devil devil, you know, two words that mean devil put together.

And then, of course, the term rag itself might have made people associate the term ragamuffin with being ragged or having raggedy clothes.

But it’s a real mess, that word.

But definitely connected to this idea of that there are all these names for the devil because you didn’t name the devil because if you did, he would appear.

This was a common belief.

Right. He would speak of the devil and that would be trouble.

Yeah, he would speak of the devil, then he appears.

And so this is why there are all these nicknames and secondary names and indirect references to the devil in history throughout European culture.

Wow, that’s really interesting.

I don’t know if my mom knew all these.

Probably not.

Somewhere she picked up the term.

And I assume it worked when she told you that.

You went and changed your clothes.

Absolutely.

Mom spoke, you behaved, right?

Right.

And my daughter changed your clothes too, so it still worked.

Well, it may be a mess, but it’s a powerful term.

Yeah.

It’s fun to use the befuddling words for your kids anyway,

Because while they’re standing there looking puzzles,

They are wandering back to their room to obey,

And before they know it, they’ve done the thing

While they’ve been thinking about these weird words you’re using.

Right. Well, someday I’ll have to explain all of this to them.

Yeah, to your grandkids.

Good luck.

That’s the goal.

Okay.

Paul, take care of yourself.

Call us again sometime.

Okay. Bye.

Be well.

Bye, Paul.

And Grant, it’s interesting, too, that in Jamaican English, the term ragamuffin has been reclaimed, hasn’t it?

It’s a style of music.

It’s quite enjoyable.

Yeah, Ragamuffin in Jamaica now refers to sort of a streetwise young person, you know, not necessarily shabbily dressed.

Cool.

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