Humpton’s wisdom

 

Humpton’s wisdom

     This is both an animal tale and some lexicography. The term Humpton dates back to the depression generation in relation to some guy they called Lump toe and then the word mutated into Humpton. Somehow Humpton became a word that filled in for the times when you needed a descriptive word and could not think of one. As the Ziesing family uses the term lear, the Sheehy tribe used the word humpton. It can be used for the name of a person or an object needed. The old saying is that if you said the sentence "Hey Humpton" at a family gathering six guys would turn around and look at you. If something was extraordinary it could even be expressed as "humpton on the humpton" or even the much more rare "humpton on the humptonette." For the most part a humpton was a rather positive term and if you were called a real humpton it was a compliment. In that use it might be equated to a mensch in Yiddish.  Humpton is a word that is falling out of usage as the generations after Greg and I no longer use it and probably have no idea the concept exists. Other words like whatchamacallit, wopperjawed, thingamajig or hoosits may also fade from family conversations. Part two involved the Altadena Sheehy's dog who was named "Humpton" and was an unruly and untameable beast. What he lacked in size he made up for in gumption.  Lawrence and Berniece set up a pet gate across their pristine parlor with a beautiful rug and Humpton would sneak in and leap over the barrier and take a huge crap just to show the humans they could not tell hiim what to do. When Michael sat next to Humpton on a couch and looked at his profile he used to say that there was absolutely no activity in Humpton's brain behind his eyes, just pure ID. He was also called "Humpty" and was loved by the Sheehys but also had very poor judgement regarding skunks and getting out of the yard. There are other Humpton stories but maybe later.