# Mopery? Must I have a clear destination or purpose just to live unmolested? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554 "2006-09-21T13:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554/21 "2006-09-22T14:28:10Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Mopery dopery doc I just went out for a walk Leave me unmolested Not stopped and arrested Mopery dopery doc Okay, it’s lame and doesn’t even technically rhyme. But waddya gonna do? [/QUOTE] Arrest you for [Alexander Popery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554/22 "2006-09-22T15:50:46Z")
Then there’s mopery with intent to commit [jiggery-pokery.](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jiggery-pokery) NOW we’re getting into some serious stuff. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554/23 "2006-09-22T16:06:52Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Then there’s mopery with intent to commit [jiggery-pokery.](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jiggery-pokery) NOW we’re getting into some serious stuff. [/QUOTE] Actually, that’s a lot more innoculous than I’d expected. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554/24 "2006-09-22T16:43:38Z")
“Mope”, as in to wander around without a purpose, was a very big offense to my grandmother. We couldn’t just mope around all day. And I heard the parents of my friends use it too. So in the '60s and '70s at least it was in use colliquially on Pittsburgh’s North Side. I always thought it was just one of those Pittsburgh words (gum bands, red up, jumbo (for bologna)), because I knew the exposing oneself to a blind person meaning. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554/25 "2006-09-22T21:41:22Z")
Joseph Wambaugh, perhaps in _The Glitter Dome,_ wrote about cops arresting people for “B & A” (being an asshole.) I had forgotten about that until a couple of weeks ago, when some hip hop star told the Rolling Stone he had been arrested for “being an asshole.” Which rapper? I don’t know, don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554/26 "2006-09-22T23:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Three days ago I got stuck behind a car doing 30 on a fun curvy country road. It was a Ferrari. Talk about mopery. I should have been legally allowed to carjack him. He didn’t deserve that car. [/QUOTE] Oh yes, about a week ago my husband and I were stuck in a similar situation, behind a guy driving some nice Porsche way too slowly. Worse yet, he obviously sucked ass at driving stick, judging by his driving and the sounds that car was making. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mopery-must-i-have-a-clear-destination-or-purpose-just-to-live-unmolested/373554.md?page=1)