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The term "muppet" is occasionally used on Wikipedia in mild humorous reference to inept self-appointed wannabe Wikipedia managers.
In Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand,[1][2] the word muppet has come to be used as a mild term of abuse, meaning a stupid, incompetent, or idiotic person, or the obvious interpretation of someone who is inanimated or somehow not there.[3] It is often used mildly affectionately.[3] It can also be applied to a strange looking or aesthetically displeasing individual.[4][5][6]
The term is frequently used by English football fans to describe an inept performance by an individual player, or a player or manager perceived to be lacking in skill. For example Roy Keane described Niall Quinn (then the chairman of Sunderland A.F.C.) as a muppet in his 2002 autobiography.[7]
The film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, penned by British writer/director Guy Ritchie, features an example of the regional usage of the term in pop culture. The character "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale (played by P.H. Moriarty) remarks, "I don't care who you use, as long as they're not complete muppets."[8]
The term has also been used during Prime Minster's Question Time in the British House of Commons to describe members of the opposition.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).Muppets in PM Questions (video). Youtube. 26 April 2015.</ref>
The term muppetry is also rapidly gaining popularity as a description for an individual, or group of people collectively behaving in a muppet-like fashion. The origins are believed to have come from workers in large organisations, who were unhappy with the low to non-existent level of thought or application that other colleagues put into their work. For example - "I'm sorry the figures will be late this quarter, due to the high amount of muppetry going on in the accounts department," or "Gregory's muppetry appears to have been infectious."[9]
References edit
- ^ Jacquelin Magnay. Noise in the hood: chav that will inspire Aussie muppets to put on a show in 2012, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 December 2008
- ^ Billy Harris. We don't need a muppet show at World Cup Sunday Star Times, 21 February 2010
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary March 2003 Draft edition, "4. slang. An incompetent or ineffectual person; an idiot . Also (with less derogatory force): someone enthusiastic but inept; a person prone to mishaps through naivety."
- ^ Gavin Martin: UK Rap: The word on The Streets The Independent 15 March 2002
- ^ Brian Viner Tales of the Country: London still doesn't thrill me, The Independent, Thursday, 20 March 2003
- ^ The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p.1341, Ed. Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor
- ^ Jason Mellor Deal agreed for Keane to take reins at Sunderland, The Independent, 28 August 2006
- ^ Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 1998 by Guy Ritchie
- ^ Richard Jolley comic strip