I recently began writing a column for the Goldsboro News-Argus, NC. An article I have just composed includes the word mommick, whhich was standard fare here in eastern North Carolina when I was growing up. The word puzzles most northern and western “intruders” but the homefolks understand, “Don’t mommick it up.” It simply means don’t mess it up or screw it up.
Sherwood ‘Owl’ Williford
Ray Boyce:
May 10th, 2013 at 10:26 am
I am from central WV and the word mommick was used by all from the previous generation.That would be 50 and 60’s . It mean to harass pester or torment, usually refer to a child.
Martin Malcolm:
June 9th, 2014 at 11:42 am
‘A General Dictionary of Provincialisms’ by William Holloway (Sussex Press, 1889)gives the usage I know, a noun: ‘mommick, a scarecrow’. Holloway traces it to the county of Somerset in England, UK. My Somerset-born-and-bred mother used to call me ‘a little mommick’ back in the 1960s. Now I know what she meant!
My dad, who died at 91, was from SE North Carolina, in the Rocky Mount area, and he used the word mommock quite often. I’ve only heard one other person in my life use that word.
Ashley39:
May 18th, 2015 at 9:44 am
Both of my parents are from Rocky Mount NC and the word “mommick” means “messed up”
“Ashley you sure mommicked up your head!”
Meaning: They don’t like my hair. I messed it up.
Another word from this region of NC “doot” pronounced “d-eww-t”. This means your behind or butt. “I busted my doot trying to skate!”
Funny words!
Beth Dix:
December 28th, 2015 at 11:04 am
My mother’s family is from eastern NC and my Grandpap would use the word mommick all the time. It could mean anything from don’t make a mess to don’t “tease” your sister….”Don’t mommick your sister like that”. It’s a great word. I use it all the time.
Karmin:
November 13th, 2016 at 1:31 pm
I’m from eastern NC and my granddaddy used to say, “You sure can mommick a biscuit!” because I only ate the middles and left a mess. I was lookin theceord up because I’ve never heard anyone else use it and my daughter also mommicks biscuits and I was remembering him fondly :)
Lefty:
June 24th, 2018 at 9:11 pm
My father (b. 1931 in NW Florida) used the word frequently with the same usage as in the original article.
Catherine Cook:
July 16th, 2019 at 1:16 pm
My mother grew up in North-Western North Carolina (Madison County) and she often used the term mommick to mean anything messed up or to mean that something causes nausea as in: That mess of collard greens pure mommicks me!
Patricia Frank:
January 12th, 2020 at 6:26 pm
I love the word “Mommick” or “Mommicked.” I’ve heard it used by Downeaasters here in Carteret County, NC. There is (or was?) a rock band from Emerald Isle, NC called “Pure T Mommicked”
Fred:
November 14th, 2020 at 11:43 pm
Patrica, if you search YouTube there are a few bands that use the word Mommock or some variant of it.
Robin:
December 16th, 2020 at 4:29 pm
My daddy, who was born in 1908, hailed from Bluffton, SC and lived most of his life in Savannah, GA. However, he “ran on the big boats” up and down the East coast when he was in the Merchant Marines, so he was around folks from other places.
“Mommicked up” was an expression he used often, and for him, it meant “messed up” or “screwed up”, such as “Don’t mommick up that cake!” said when he caught a young’un messing around cutting little pieces of cake and eating them one after another, whilst standing at the counter!
He also referred to cookies as biscuits (which I know is British) and called female or mama cats “sow cats.” Seems as though the memory gates are opening…but I will save it for another time!
Helen:
December 28th, 2020 at 2:37 pm
This is all very interesting to me. My parents both used the word but whereas my dad was raised in an isolated bump in the road in Oregon by parents from Louisiana by way of Oklahoma, and Tennessee by way of whatever attracted his attention on the way west, my mom was born in Costa Rica to American parents and did not come to the States until she was 15. Both were raised around language of a previous generation. Another word that the families used was “faunching”, as in Faunching at the bit (horses), something i only saw in print once,i think it was in Green Grow the Lilies…
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Kjeri Kaye:
December 6th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
So, is Mammock related at all to amok as in “The furious chinchilla ran amok, mammocking everything in sight including the poodle.”
Paul Klein:
December 20th, 2011 at 10:09 am
When you say Eastern NC, do you mean Carteret County, east of Beaufort? The term was in common usage in the ’50s and ’60s when I was growing up there.
“Honey, he mommocked it!”
Sherwood Williford:
August 30th, 2012 at 10:06 am
I recently began writing a column for the Goldsboro News-Argus, NC. An article I have just composed includes the word mommick, whhich was standard fare here in eastern North Carolina when I was growing up. The word puzzles most northern and western “intruders” but the homefolks understand, “Don’t mommick it up.” It simply means don’t mess it up or screw it up.
Sherwood ‘Owl’ Williford
Ray Boyce:
May 10th, 2013 at 10:26 am
I am from central WV and the word mommick was used by all from the previous generation.That would be 50 and 60’s . It mean to harass pester or torment, usually refer to a child.
Martin Malcolm:
June 9th, 2014 at 11:42 am
‘A General Dictionary of Provincialisms’ by William Holloway (Sussex Press, 1889)gives the usage I know, a noun: ‘mommick, a scarecrow’. Holloway traces it to the county of Somerset in England, UK. My Somerset-born-and-bred mother used to call me ‘a little mommick’ back in the 1960s. Now I know what she meant!
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YBRJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=mommick+Somerset&source=bl&ots=K4JI1WnOif&sig=xW2KOxAQBcQvKRirOs-Y6m3eS2k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uNOVU_aSJMWvPJOQgIgE&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=mommick%20Somerset&f=false
Fred:
April 17th, 2015 at 11:07 am
My dad, who died at 91, was from SE North Carolina, in the Rocky Mount area, and he used the word mommock quite often. I’ve only heard one other person in my life use that word.
Ashley39:
May 18th, 2015 at 9:44 am
Both of my parents are from Rocky Mount NC and the word “mommick” means “messed up”
“Ashley you sure mommicked up your head!”
Meaning: They don’t like my hair. I messed it up.
Another word from this region of NC “doot” pronounced “d-eww-t”. This means your behind or butt. “I busted my doot trying to skate!”
Funny words!
Beth Dix:
December 28th, 2015 at 11:04 am
My mother’s family is from eastern NC and my Grandpap would use the word mommick all the time. It could mean anything from don’t make a mess to don’t “tease” your sister….”Don’t mommick your sister like that”. It’s a great word. I use it all the time.
Karmin:
November 13th, 2016 at 1:31 pm
I’m from eastern NC and my granddaddy used to say, “You sure can mommick a biscuit!” because I only ate the middles and left a mess. I was lookin theceord up because I’ve never heard anyone else use it and my daughter also mommicks biscuits and I was remembering him fondly :)
Lefty:
June 24th, 2018 at 9:11 pm
My father (b. 1931 in NW Florida) used the word frequently with the same usage as in the original article.
Catherine Cook:
July 16th, 2019 at 1:16 pm
My mother grew up in North-Western North Carolina (Madison County) and she often used the term mommick to mean anything messed up or to mean that something causes nausea as in: That mess of collard greens pure mommicks me!
Patricia Frank:
January 12th, 2020 at 6:26 pm
I love the word “Mommick” or “Mommicked.” I’ve heard it used by Downeaasters here in Carteret County, NC. There is (or was?) a rock band from Emerald Isle, NC called “Pure T Mommicked”
Fred:
November 14th, 2020 at 11:43 pm
Patrica, if you search YouTube there are a few bands that use the word Mommock or some variant of it.
Robin:
December 16th, 2020 at 4:29 pm
My daddy, who was born in 1908, hailed from Bluffton, SC and lived most of his life in Savannah, GA. However, he “ran on the big boats” up and down the East coast when he was in the Merchant Marines, so he was around folks from other places.
“Mommicked up” was an expression he used often, and for him, it meant “messed up” or “screwed up”, such as “Don’t mommick up that cake!” said when he caught a young’un messing around cutting little pieces of cake and eating them one after another, whilst standing at the counter!
He also referred to cookies as biscuits (which I know is British) and called female or mama cats “sow cats.” Seems as though the memory gates are opening…but I will save it for another time!
Helen:
December 28th, 2020 at 2:37 pm
This is all very interesting to me. My parents both used the word but whereas my dad was raised in an isolated bump in the road in Oregon by parents from Louisiana by way of Oklahoma, and Tennessee by way of whatever attracted his attention on the way west, my mom was born in Costa Rica to American parents and did not come to the States until she was 15. Both were raised around language of a previous generation. Another word that the families used was “faunching”, as in Faunching at the bit (horses), something i only saw in print once,i think it was in Green Grow the Lilies…