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Mickmack

Pronounced “mick-mack”

Noun

1. One who uses an item or items discarded by others;

Etymology

Mickmack is perhaps the only nickname to become a word in itself. A few years ago, in rural Yorkshire, there was a character who went by the name of Mickmack. Due to some of his character traits, mickmack became a colloquial term for one who picks up or uses things discarded by others, for example dropped loose change.

Anyone seen picking up a coin which is not silver should be immediately lambasted for being a mickmack.

The word “mickmack” in context

Some sentences containing valid uses of the word mickmack:

Scenario 1
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James and Frank are walking down the street, when James notices a 2 pence piece on the floor. He bends down and picks it up. Upon placing it in his pocket, Frank turns to him and says “James, my friend, you truly are the biggest mickmack I have ever met!”

Scenario 2
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Angela and Zarathustra are in a bar. Angela is a student, and rather cash strapped. Noticing that someone has left three quarters of a pint of beer unattended on the bar for around half an hour, Angela picks up the drink and claims it as hers. On seeing this, Zarathustra tells her friend “Angela, I never thought I’d say this, but you are becomming a bit of a mickmack”

Scenario 3
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Tom, Peter and Claris are chatting during their cigarette break outside the office. One of the other staff members stubs out on the top of a litter bin when a passing vagrant picks up the still burning butt and begins to smoke it himself.

“what a mickmack!” Claris exclaims.

“Yes” concurs Tom, “the worst type of mickmack.”

Get the word Mickmack into the dictionary

This is a most important mission, and one which is easily achieved. All you have to do is use the word “mickmack” whenever possible, and explain to your friends what it means.

As you can see, there are few synonyms which fit this precise set of circumstances, for example, if you caught someone playing “dead soldiers” in a bar (“dead soldiers” is where you find drinks which have been left and take them for yourself), previously you would have had no good word for such a person. This is no longer the case. You can call them a mickmack.

If you see someone who picks up discarded cigarette butts and re-lights them (or continues to smoke a still glowing cig from an ashtray) you can chastise them for their mickmackish behaviour.

After a time, when everyone is using and happy with the meaning of the word, mickmack will go into the dictionary, and the world will be a better place.

You can help in many ways, by doing any or all of the following things:

• Email your friends telling them about this quest to get the word mickmack into the dictionary, and explain a little about what it means and where to use it, direct them to this page if you like;
• Make a hyperlink to this post;
• Write your own blog posts about the word mickmack and how it should be used to help grease the wheels, feel free to comment on here and I’ll link up to you if you do;
• Join the facebook group I set up to promote the use of the word mickmack;
• Call someone a mickmack;
• Call yourself a mickmack;
• Write to your local MP or council member and describe a situation which involved a mickmack as part of your letter;
• If you are doing a television or radio interview, mention the word mickmack and explain what it means;
• If you know a foreign person who is learning English, make sure that mickmack is one of the first words they become adept at using – get them to practice sentences involving mickmack whenever possible;
• Teach your children or, if you are a teacher, other people’s children about the word mickmack and what it means;
• Go onto “Countdown” and, if the letters are there, spell out the word mickmack – this would be an 8 letter word, so you would get plaudits, though it wouldn’t be in the dictionary, so you’d get no points. However, it would give you an opportunity to express your disbelief that it is not, and tell everyone what it means: thus giving the entire over 60s population of the UK a valuable insight into this forgotten word – never underestimate “grey power”;
• If you use Myspace or Facebook, or any other social network, message everyone you know and cal them a mickmack – with or without explanation – they’ll either google it an end up here, or someone else will tell them what it means;
• Send SMS text messages to everyone in your mobile phone’s phonebook using just 2 words “You mickmack”;
• Ring everyone you know and call them a mickmack. Explain what the word means and why you believe it of them. If they are not there, leave a message on voicemail;
• Put up a billboard advert containing the word mickmack which makes it clear what it means;
• Advertise anywhere in this manner. There are a lot of places that accept free classified ads;
• Call your cat mickmack and, if your friends ask why, explain that he has a penchant for stealing other cat’s discarded mice;
• Digg this post, using the button at the top;
• Be a mickmack, and get your friends to call you a mickmack at the top of their voices in a busy place; and
• Get your friends to film this on their mobile phones and bluetooth it to everyone you know (or who is in the area – football matches are good for this apparently); then
• Put the video on YouTube;

There are, of course, many other ways to help get the word mickmack into popular usage. But writing it down is a good place to start, so anyone who writes any thing for publication should try to use the word mickmack as often as possible: send letters to every newspaper you read containing the term. Do this every week. Be creative. Get the word mickmack into the dictionary.