One of the most looked up words in the last week is muppet. Our dictionary entry says it’s an insulting word for someone who behaves in a stupid way, but it’s only very mildly insulting, and is usually said in a friendly way. I couldn’t think of any reason why the term should suddenly become so interesting to so many people.
Nearly all the look-ups were on Saturday 24th. A lot of us were outdoors trying to enjoy the Indian summer we’re having in the UK, but if we’d stayed in and logged on, we might have seen that the Google Doodle that day featured the Muppets to celebrate what would have been the 75th birthday of the animator and creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson.
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Funny that – when the lovable Muppets were so popular – the word should have taken on such a negative meaning. Something similar happened to ‘cowboy’: in the movies, a rugged and rather romantic figure, but in the building trade, a dishonest or incompetent worker.