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Umpteenth

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MrIxolite | 10:39 Thu 24th Jun 2004 | Phrases & Sayings
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Where does this expression come from?
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Avatar Image Quizmonster
'Umpty' first appeared as military slang 100 years ago, meaning an indefinite - but large - number. It was used particularly in the Royal Navy in much the same way as 'x' is used in mathematics to represent an unknown quantity. 'Umpteenth' came to be a sort of adjectival form of the word, with obvious connections with thirteenth, fourteenth etc.
11:10 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image MrIxolite
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Do we know who coined the phrase Umpty 100 years ago?
12:20 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image bernardo
I reckon it must have been Humpty Dumpty. As he explained to Alice, a word can mean whatever you want it to mean.
14:50 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image IndieSinger
And another thing, where, in the nursery rhyme, does it say that Humpty is an egg?
15:24 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image Tat
EGG! you did that just for me didn't you!?
18:38 Thu 24th Jun 2004
Avatar Image bernardo
He looks like an egg in the original illustrations.
15:43 Fri 25th Jun 2004
Avatar Image IndieSinger
Yes, but why?
16:24 Fri 25th Jun 2004

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