rump

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/26/2014 06:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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

As in the English "Rump Parliament" of 1648 --
what was left after those members supporting
reinstatement of Charles I were purged.  The
"rump city" is, rather, the part that has left, not what remains.

Joel


>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
> > -----------------------
> > 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org