TO BE OR NOT TO BE A MOOK

In Martin Scorsese’s breakout movie “Mean Streets” (1973), Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) tries to duck out of paying his bar bill at the local pool hall; not his first time.

After being called a “mook” by the debt collector, everything slows down as the confused guys don’t know what a mook means. Then they fight over the insinuation, and even though they don’t know if it’s good or bad, they figure it is worth a fight.

Most of us did not know the definition or the word’s usage in 1973.

The word later appears in a November 18-19, 2023, Wall Street Journal Opinion article by Peggy Noonan, who uses slang to put a group of arguing politicians in their place. In her weekend column Declaration, she observes:

“ . . . A working out, in public, of the fact that they have low regard for the institution (I assume Congress) because it is populated by people like them and no regard for the political process because it allows people like them to rise. Here is a rule of life: Deep down mooks always know they’re mooks, the shallow know they’re shallow, the dumb know they’re dumb. Their constant attempts not to let you see what they know leads to much bad behavior.”

Merriam-Webster terms the word “slang” for “a foolish, insignificant or contemptible person.” The word is reaching its 100th year since it was first known publication in 1930.

(“Mook.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mook. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024)

In her column, Ms Noonan nails members and leaders of both houses in specific acts of mookism.

Others take it further, that the slang implies a person of low social status, much like the Mean Streets characters. But, higher-ups can jump off the cliff of importance and land in the pool of low social status by being a mook or calling others a mook. And still keep their position.

Knocking others can come from a sheltered life, where anyone who makes a simple mistake (and lives outside that life) can be ground into the ground as a mook.

The better method to remain out of trouble, out of arguments, out of a mook life, even if you are a mook, requires self-restraint, some maturity, and a leaning away from arguing about anything.

For example, if someone says you’re wrong, rather than argue, agree. “You know, I might be wrong.” If they’re right, you cut them off at the pass. On the other hand, if you’re proven correct (say the argument is over two plus two; you say it’s four, they argue no), they will be on the losing side, in line for a mook banner, but without you risking a thing.

You may think someone is “an idiot,” and you might be correct, but that’s a slang word, like mook, retard, dummy, and so on, that does not belong in public vocabulary. Stay healthy, keep the middle finger in its hoster, and avoid harm and altercations.

As Ms. Noonan wrote, a mook knows they’re a mook; they don’t need you to rub it in.