Amush

[Donald M Lance]

Do they use the vowel in look or the vowel in luck?
dmlance

on 6/1/02 12:03 AM, Douglas G. Wilson at douglas at NB.NET wrote:

> Here is the total text of my e-mail request to a highly respected local
> geek/savant for consultation:
>
> <<Do you recognize the word "amush"? Maybe it's some kind of jargon. Google
> gets ~400 hits; some are errors for "ambush", some are apparently giving a
> salutation or something in Hebrew, others I don't know.>>
>
> Note that I provided no quotation or context.
>
> My consultant responds:
>
> <<The first thing I thought upon reading your question was "amush ?=?
> amuck". ... Well, a MUSH is similar to a MUCK... Multi-User Shared
> Hallucination vs. [Multi-User] Created Kingdom ([both] likely backronymic).
> ... many of the first hits I turned up on Google were for AuroraMUSH or
> something hosted under their domain, amush.cx.>>
>
> It seems that both MUSH and MUCK refer to virtual environments largely used
> for role-playing games. I guess "muck" is semantically similar to "mush"
> ... wait, maybe there's a "MUD" too? Yes, it looks like there is, the
> ancestor probably: Google estimates ~66,000 hits for "mud multi-user":
> apparently "MUD" = "multi-user dungeon" or "multi-user dimension", dating
> from *really* ancient times (ca. 1980, *well* before my consultant's birth):
>
> http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/lpb/muddex/
>
> Amusing, although of questionable relevance to Michael Quinion's question.
> In 21st-century geography, I believe Pennsylvania and Yorkshire are
> adjacent/congruent, and both closely related to Christmas Island (the
> notional location of "amush.cx"). Perhaps the age of the user of the
> mystery expression might be of interest.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>