New word guys: Mossback

[warrior1]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mossback

Definition of MOSSBACK
1
: a large sluggish fish (as a largemouth bass)
2
: an extremely old-fashioned or reactionary person : fogy
— moss·backed\-ˌbakt\ adjective
Examples of MOSSBACK

1. <those mossbacks at the intelligence agency didn't get the memo that the world had changed>

First Known Use of MOSSBACK
1872
Related to MOSSBACK
Synonyms: antediluvian, Colonel Blimp, dodo, fossil, fud, fuddy-duddy, fogy, reactionary, stick-in-the-mud, stuffed shirt
Antonyms: hipster, modern, trendy
Related Words: conservative, rightist, Tory; mandarin, old hand, old-timer, veteran; old maid
Near Antonyms: liberal, progressive, radical
<+>more

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Thanks! I always wondered what Sam Wainwright meant by "Old Mossback George"

(Bailey) in "It's A Wonderful Life".

[Gabi Hayes]

2. we could sure use more than a handful of modern-day mugwumps....

[warrior1]

3. Mugwumps

The Mugwumps were Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. They switched parties because they rejected the financial corruption associated with Republican candidate James G. Blaine. In a close election, the Mugwumps supposedly made the difference in New York state and swung the election to Cleveland. The jocular word mugwump, noted as early as 1832, is from Algonquian (Natick) mugquomp, "important person, kingpin" (from mugumquomp, "war leader")<1> implying that they were "sanctimonious" or "holier-than-thou,"<2> in holding themselves aloof from party politics.

After the election, mugwump survived for more than a decade as an epithet for a party bolter in American politics. Many Mugwumps became Democrats or remained independents; most continued to support reform well into the 20th century.<3> During the Third Party System, party loyalty was in high regard and independents were rare. Theodore Roosevelt stunned his upper class New York City friends by supporting Blaine in 1884; by rejecting the Mugwumps he kept alive his Republican party leadership, clearing the way for his own political aspirations.<4>

New England and the Northeastern United States had been a stronghold of the Republican Party since the Civil War era, but the Mugwumps considered Blaine to be an untrustworthy and fraudulent candidate. Their idealism and reform sensibilities led them to oppose the political corruption in the politics of the Gilded Age.<5>

[azurnoir]

5. thanks did n't know that always thought they were creatures from Naked Lunch n/t

[Historic NY]

4. Oh you mean Mitch O'Connell.