Fashionable Words: Nincompoop

[Sometimes words die out of fashion. But sometimes those words are good words, words with a certain appeal that can't be denied forever. Those words should be brought back into fashion, used frequently and used often. These are those words.]

Word:
Nincompoop


Definition:  noun
A foolish person; an individual lacking common sense.

Origin:
No respectable dictionary will dare say with confidence. "Origin uncertain" is about as hard edge as they'll get.

Samuel Johnson--he being the grandaddy of all modern dictionaries--was throwing things against the wall and seeing what stuck when he wrote that nincompoop came from the Latin non compos, usually seen in legal terms like non compos mentis (not mentally competent).

Samuel Johnson double-checks his Latin.

Sounds legit, right? Not so, said the Oxford English Dictionary, as they picked a fight with a dead man and called out Johnson decades after his passing, suggesting his logic didn't account for variations of nincompoop that were around in the 1600 and 1700s. Today, the OED believes there's a chance nincompoop's origins come from the Dutch, especially the poop side of the word.

Poep, a 17th century Dutch derogatory word talking trash about Germans, was bandied about and adopted by English folk. Yes, poep gives us our modern use of poop. Today, whenever you casually mention the need to take a bowel movement, you're actually speaking ill of 17th century Germans. Remember that.

The nincom side of the word is equally obscure, with little proof of how it originates. The OED subtly suggests it might come from the French nicodème (a simple person), which in turn comes from Nicodemite--a Middle French term that describes someone who is a timid adherent, especially religiously (think: Protestants in Catholic countries, or vice versa, 400 years ago), with allusions to the ancient gentleman named Nicodemus.

Why does the name Nicodemus sound familiar to you? No, he wasn't an early mathematician or third-rate mobster in a Martin Scorsese flick. In the bible, Nicodemus appears during the Gospel of John as a Jewish ruler who showed favor to Jesus Christ, most notably visiting Jesus at night to learn about his teachings. Later, after Christ's crucifixion, Nicodemus is mentioned as helping remove the body of Jesus from the cross.

That's right. Nincompoop somehow potentially combines Christ's crucifixion with the Dutch lingo for feces.

Most obscure UrbanDictionary.com definitions of nincompoop:

4.  A braindead self important little turd given an impressive sounding job title to keep him blissfully ignorant of the world shattering nefarious machinations of his keepers. Derived from army slang 'non-com' short for non commissioned officer.

13.  Slang term for anyone who is a devoted fan of Nine Inch Nails, or NIN, usually only used by other fans.






Used in a sentence:

1. That nincompoop used dirty dish water to fill up the coffee maker.


Why you should use nincompoop in your daily life:

It makes you sound like a nebbish academic, circa 1920.


Word Awesomeness Scale (1-to-5):
Four.

It's the only time you can say 'poop' without sounding like a kindergartener.