Talk:mammock

Is this a real word? Can we have some citations in noun and verb sense please? &mdash; Hippietrail 10:55, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Well, it's from Shakespeare and, as he just used to make up words, I don't suppose it has ever been actually used outside his plays. (Anthony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus) SemperBlotto 11:13, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Mammock is in current use with various pronunciation and spelling among different populations in tidewater North Carolina including the Lumbee Indians, Ocracoke Islanders (1) and the Downeast Core-Sounders in Carteret County (2).

(1) Curzan, Anne 2002 North Carolina Language and Life, American Speech 77:2, 218,219. (2) Documented by a photograph of a front license plate on car reads ‘Pure-t Mommicked’ taken 21 Sept 2008 at First Baptist Church, Davis NC. I don't know how to attach the photo but will provide it at request: chris.geller@hotmail.com works fastest.

Pronunciation among the Carteret County speakers varies at least from /ˈmʌmɪk/ to /ˈmŭmɪk/. To the best of my limited ear it always rhymes with US Midwestern ‘pick’ and ‘lick’ but has an initial vowel varying between US Midwestern ‘monster’ and ‘mummy’.

RFV discussion: March–April 2022
RFV the extremely specific pronunciation and spelling note - term limited to some obscure parts of North Carolina - some even unpopulated. WTF??? I assume this is some esoterically inventive trolling. VealSociedad (talk) 18:35, 18 March 2022 (UTC)


 * We've already got three citations for the noun and two for the verb from the 16-, 17- and 1800s; I've now added some more modern ones. The only pronunciation we give is ironically a British one supported by a quotation of the OED I've now added (though we use the more modern notation /a/ for that British pronunciation where the old text has /æ/); the variability of pronunciation beyond that is supported by the various other spellings we have entries and sometimes citations or further-reading for, like mommick, mommuck, mummock, although some effort should probably be made to consolidate and cite those. Reference works about North Carolina dialect (some mentioned on the talk page and some I've added to the entry) do say it persists there, including on a modern-day licence plate. - -sche (discuss) 19:31, 25 March 2022 (UTC)


 * The old English Dialect Dictionary, for what it's worth, has this has "MAMMOCK, sb. and v. Sc. n.Cy. Cum. Yks. Chs. Der. Not. Lei. Nhp. War. Wor. Shr. Hrf. Glo. Oxf. Brks. Hrt. e.An. Ken. Sus. Hmp. I.W. Wil. Dor. Som. Amer. Also written mammick Sus.; mammuck Suf.; and in forms mammocks Hrf. e.An.; mommack Som.; mommick Not. Ken. Sus. Hmp. Wil. w.Som.; mommock Cum. w.Yks. Chs. s.Chs. Not. Nhp. War. w.Wor. s.Wor. Shr. Hrf. Glo.; mommicks Som.; mommuck se.Wor. Glo. Oxf.; mommuk Ess.; mummacks Yks. m.Yks.; mummick I.W. Dor. Amer.; mummock w.Yks. Der. nw.Der. War. s.War. w.Wor. Glo. Brks. Wil. Dor.; mummuck n.Wil.; mumock War. [ma·mək, mæ·mək, mo·mək, mu·mək, mɐ·mək.]." (Their "o" is the o of mob, their "u" the u of full, their "ɐ" the u of up, "·" indicates the preceding syllable has stress, and the other symbols have their IPA values.) It would be helpful if anyone knows whether this term is still current in any of these British dialects. - -sche (discuss) 20:07, 25 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Completely unheard of from having lived much of my life in some of the places referred to, but I am (sadly) not omniscient. Theknightwho (talk) 17:28, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

RFV-passed. Kiwima (talk) 23:43, 25 April 2022 (UTC)