rump

[Jonathan Lighter]

A "rump state" is, historically, what's left of a state after a part has
broken away or been chopped off.

Which is hardly what the cited journalists can mean right now.

JL


On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 5:34 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: rump
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Yahoo! News:
> >
> > "According to the separatists currently holding control of the Ukrainian
> > town of Slovyansk, the observers were thought to be NATO spies. The
> > self-proclaimed mayor of the rump city added:..."
> >
> > Seems like it's supposed to mean "separatist" or something. Hey! Maybe
> it's
> > "divided!"
>
> A commentator on PBS recently used the following phrase: "a bunch of
> little rump states in Eastern Ukraine". It is possible that the phrase
> "rump city" was employed because the writer was labeling a city within
> a potential or nascent "rump state". Note that I am presenting an
> explanation for the usage and not an endorsement. Also, this may be
> known to JL so he left it unstated.
>
> PBS Newshour
>
> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/u-s-cautious-diplomatic-deal-calm-conflict-ukraine/
> U.S. cautious about diplomatic deal to calm conflict in Ukraine
> April 17, 2014 at 6:10 PM EDT
> [Begin excerpt]
> TRANSCRIPT...
> MARGARET WARNER: ...
> And when I followed up with a question about, well, were you reassured
> at least that in this agreement it talks about constitutional reforms
> that will protect the rights of minorities, he said, what we want is
> federalization in the constitution. That’s a Russian codeword for
> essentially creating a bunch of little rump states in Eastern Ukraine
> so disconnected from Kiev that they are easily manipulated by Russia.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Merriam-Webster
> rump, noun
> :  a small or inferior remnant or offshoot; ...
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rump
>
> Garson
>
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