Maybe Erasmus wrote the play. They’re the original odd couple, I suppose. mjh
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/01.html?src=rss
mumpsimus \MUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun:
1. Adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy.
2. A person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice."I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, from habit’s sake, his old Mumpsimus…
— Sir Walter Scott, The TalismanMr. Burgess, who sticks (I fancy) to his old mumpsimus, thought that the other gentleman might have given the canoe a shove to get it clear of the lock…
— Ronald A. Knox, The Footsteps at the LockMumpsimus comes from a story (perhaps first told by Erasmus) about an illiterate priest who mispronounced a word while reciting the liturgy. The priest refused to change the word, even when he was corrected.
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http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/02.html?src=rss
sumpsimus \SUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun:
1. Adherence to or persistence in using a strictly correct term, holding to a precise practice, etc., as a rejection of an erroneous but more common form (opposed to mumpsimus).
2. A person who is obstinate or zealous about such strict correctness (opposed to mumpsimus).
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