A few days ago
Where did the expression, your name is mud, come from?
A friend of mine said it has something to do with a relative of hers, so I was curious if anyone had any ideas about the origin of the term.
Top 7 Answers
A few days ago
Favorite Answer
“John Wilkes Booth broke his leg while escaping after shooting Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was given medical help by Dr Samuel Mudd, who didn’t then know about the assassination. Mudd was convicted of being Booth’s conspirator, although he is widely believed to have been innocent. Actually, whether Mudd was innocent or not is of little consequence in regard to the origin of this phrase. It was in general circulation before Lincoln was assassinated. This comes from John Badcock’s (aka ‘J. Bee’) Slang – A dictionary of the turf etc., 1823:
“Mud – a stupid twaddling fellow. ‘And his name is mud!’ ejaculated upon the conclusion of a silly oration, or of a leader in the Courier.”
The phrase appears to be one of the many that, when a news story arises, match the gist of the story and later become associated with it.
“
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A few days ago
I think expression probably came from the development pf the West. For example, when two people had a fight in a building somewhere (ex: saloon), they went outside to settle their differences, and I’m guessing their faces got dirty while rolling about. Whoever lost, got branded with the idea his name is mud . Also, now during presidential races if one candidate slurs the other, it is called “mudslinging”. Some cases of “mudslinging”
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A few days ago
In Catch-22, “the dead man in Yossarian’s tent” is named Mud. It turns out that he dropped off all of his belongings there, then immediately went into battle and died. Commanders didn’t acknowledge his existence because of his fast death and Yossarian was quite upset about the dead man in his tent.
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A few days ago
John Wilkes Booth fled to a Dr, MUDD, who really wished he hadn’t helped Booth.
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A few days ago
One biblical context of it goes: Since man is mud on the potters wheel when God created the world (whirled?) when he finished making man from clay, he gave him the breath of life and the name Adam (Atom?) . So before that his name was mud.
When we say “His name is mud.” we mean he is as dead to us as his reputation is now.” There’s nothing as dead as mud.
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A few days ago
It is definitely taken from the doctor who help John Wilkes Booth….Dr. Mudd.
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A few days ago
mud spelled backwards is dum. so if you cant figure that out then you might fit.
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