THE FIRST WORD

mumpsimus

PRONUNCIATION:

(MUMP-suh-muhs) 

MEANING:

noun:
1. A view stubbornly held in spite of clear evidence that it's wrong.
2. A person who holds such a view.

ETYMOLOGY:

According to an old story, a priest used the nonsense word mumpsimus (instead of Latin sumpsimus) in the Mass. Even when told it was incorrect, he insisted that he had been saying it for 40 years and wouldn't change it. The expression is "quod in ore sumpsimus" ('which we have taken into the mouth'). Earliest documented use: 1530.

USAGE:

"She knows the boss's behavior is wrong but mumpsimus has set in."
Mary Lou Dobbs; Repotting Yourself; O Books; 2010.