« Good Words: June 2013 | Main | Good Words: November 2013 »

Mumpsimus

A mumpsimus is an action by a person, or the person themselves, who adheres to a routine, idea, custom, set of beliefs, or a certain use of language that has been shown to be unreasonable or incorrect.... The term originates from a story about a priest who misread sumpsimus as mumpsimus. Informed of his mistake, he replied he had said mumpsimus for a number of years and was not about to change