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!
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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!