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Muppet
Professor David Crystal
Muppet. Somebody who acts in a way that the speaker
considers ignorant or idiotic - ‘you’re a muppet!’ Very
friendly kind of tone attached to this word, jocular,
affectionate, even. It’s much less forceful than, ‘idiot’ or
‘prat’ or ‘fool’. The tone of voice has got to be jocular. I just
can’t think of it as a vicious term – I couldn’t say ‘you
horrible muppet!’ – that doesn’t work for me, though I can
imagine some people might use it.
The implications, of course, are – because it’s an inanimate
thing – that the mind has gone elsewhere, you’re being
controlled by another, you’re being clumsy – it’s because
the word comes from ‘puppet’ really, and that’s the way
puppets act.
The Muppets were, of course, a Jim Henson creation back
in the 1970s – you know, Kermit the Frog in ‘Sesame
Street’ and, of course, ‘The Muppet Show’ from that time onwards. Jim
Henson once said that he just made the word up because it sounded
good, but when he was pressed, he said it was actually a combination of
‘marionette’ and ‘puppet’, and it goes right back to the 1950s.
Well, it’s developed all sorts of other uses since – have you ever heard of
‘muppetry’, for instance? That’s a group of people behaving like Muppets!
You know, sort of, automata, they’re not thinking straight!
Oh, by the way, you have to distinguish it from ‘moppet’ – that’s different
– that’s a charming, doll-like, little child, often with a mop of hair.
Moppets aren’t Muppets!
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007
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