Mookum

September 18th, 2013 by admin

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Posted in columns, September 2013 | 5 comments

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5 comments on this post.

  1. Helene Kirschbaum:

    May 9th, 2020 at 10:52 am

    I’m wondering if mook is a shortened form of “jamoke”, an idiot of the Italian variety.

  2. Dorman:

    May 16th, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    Helene — I have actually seen that word written as jamook — don’t hold me to it, but I believe it might have been in an online discussion (about the origins of mook) which involved, at one point, the late, great Harlan Ellison, who was known to drop in and comment and chat with visitors to the online site devoted to him and his work.

    I don’t recall if the Italian work jamoke was ever introduced into the discussion, but — either way — it seems as if YOUR contribution should be added to all the evidence collected by “The Word Detective”. :)

  3. PieCatLady:

    November 21st, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    Hello Word Detective. My first visit to your site and (ta-da!) here’s more info than I was looking for. Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach, “Law and Order” TV show) frequently called unsavory characters “mooks” which was a new word to me. Thought I’d find out the origin, years later of course. Then here’s “mookum” and “skookum” – good additions to my slanguage of choice. Thanks much and see…er READ…you again soon.

  4. Patrick:

    November 22nd, 2021 at 12:00 am

    I heard it used by the Italian sect when I lived in Boston. “Ahhh, youse guys are just a bunch of mooks”, or “Joey… What a mook that kid is…”

  5. Parsifal:

    March 26th, 2022 at 11:27 pm

    My understanding was that “mook” was theatre slang for players with insignificant roles — whether just non-speaking parts or including small parts with a couple lines, I don’t know. From there the expansion to insignificant people generally would be natural.

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