# What is "mopery?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096 "2001-02-19T18:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/1 "2001-02-19T18:51:55Z")
I get the feeling that it’s kind of a made-up term used like, “general assholishness and other such folderol.” I’ve searched a number of threads, and I didn’t find any real clear-cut, definitive answer. There probably isn’t one, but just in case there is, I wanna know. Where did the term originate? It’s not a real legal term, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/2 "2001-02-19T19:14:34Z")
In the movie the Revenge of the Nerds, mopery is defined as “exposing yourself to a blind person”. This is in the scene where the Louis and Gilbert go to the police station to complain about the Alpha Betas and the police officer tells them that he cannot believe what the world was coming too, “we just arrested that fellow over there for mopery”. A flasher in a tenchcoat is shown lowering his head. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/3 "2001-02-19T19:23:40Z")
This site: [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/gravity-f.html?gravity.header.html&gravity.left.html&m.html](http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/gravity-f.html?gravity.header.html&gravity.left.html&m.html) Says > [@](#): > > **mopery** > Slang: a trivial, imaginary violation of law (also seen defined as: act of moping; vagrancy, dawdling); “The War must’ve been lean times for crowd > control, murder and mopery was the best you could do” ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/4 "2001-02-19T22:53:54Z")
My dad had a friend who was a cop and I was with him (my dad) once when he ran into his friend in his cruiser and they stopped to chat. I was about 10, I suppose, at the time and when my dad told him to arrest me (ha-ha, Dad!) the officer asked him if it was for mopery. Yes, it’s a made-up word for an imaginary crime. Usually used in jest, I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/5 "2001-02-20T01:48:56Z")
Mopery is just the activity of mopes. And mopes are dopes: From Merriam-Websters mope noun Date: 1693 1 : one that mopes 2 plural : BLUES 1 mope intransitive verb Inflected Form(s): moped; mop·ing Etymology: probably from obsolete mop, mope fool Date: 1568 1 archaic : to act in a dazed or stupid manner 2 : to give oneself up to brooding : become listless or dejected 3 : to move slowly or aimlessly : DAWDLE - mop·er noun - mop·ey /'mO-pE/ adjective ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/6 "2001-02-20T01:58:42Z")
Thanks, folks. It just goes to show ya…Dopers ain’t mopers. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/7 "2001-02-20T02:18:26Z")
Wow! How did I miss this thread? Another chance to use my _Lighter, American Slang_ . Actually, _mope_ used as a noun is cited in 1540 in the **OED**. It meant a slow-witted person or a jerk. **mopery** used as a noun in print in the US appears in 1907. _Lighter_ says it meant > [@](#): > > stupidity or ineptitude, specifically a hypothetical absurd or trivial offense. There were various other meanings in and around the teens and twenties. But the above were the main ones. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/8 "2001-02-20T09:08:52Z")
I had always heard it as “mopery & dopery with intent to grope\”. As in-“So you want to arrest them, eh, Officer Newbie- what are ya gonna charge them with- Mopery…?” ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/9 "2001-02-20T16:03:38Z")
“mopery with intent to GAWK” is the usual gag. “intent to grope” suggests something too serious, and actually criminal. That one was used by Robert Anton Wilson in Illuminatus. Somebody else’s definition was from a “Gravity’s Rainbow” glossary page. Pynchon was also inordinately fond of the word and used it several ways - he should have also excerpted “Attempted Mopery with a Subversive Instrument” - I like that. BTW, another charge often used for humorous effect is “barratry”. That one’s real, but most people don’t know what it is, and it sounds funny. (it has multiple definitions. abbreviated a bit from the AHD - 1. stirring up groundless lawsuits. 2 - a breach of duty by a ship’s master or crew resulting in injury to the owner. 3 - the selling of church or state offices) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/10 "2017-04-25T15:29:26Z")
OED: mope, v. (məʊp) Also 6–7 moop(e, 7–8 moape. [Of obscure origin; connexion with mop v.1 is doubtful. Cf. mop n.1, map v.2, mop v.3 In mod. dialects (see Eng. Dial. Dict.) the vb. has the senses ‘to wander about aimlessly’, ‘to grope’; among the dialectal forms are maup, maap, etc. The corresponding word is found in several Scandinavian langs.: cf. Sw. dial. mopa to look discontented, sulk, Da. maabe to be stupid or unconscious, to mope, Norw. maapa to lay about one wildly with a weapon, Bornholm måva to stand gaping, expecting something good. (MSw. mopa to befool seems to be more nearly connected with mop n.1)] 1.1 intr. ‘To be in a state of unconsciousness, to move and act without the impulse and guidance of thought’ (Schmidt). Obs. exc. dial. (see E.D.D.). 1568, 1593 [see moping ppl. a.]. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 143 What a wretched and peeuish fellow is this King of England, to mope with his fat-brain’d followers so farre out of his knowledge. 1602 ― Ham. iii. iv. 81 (1604 Qo.) What deuill wast That thus hath cosund you at hodman blind; Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight.‥ Or but a sickly part of one true sence Could not so mope. … ETA: Took me 16 years to get this because now I know. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/11 "2017-04-25T15:41:28Z")
Didn’t the Mopes invade Spain in the 8th century? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/12 "2017-04-25T15:46:39Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Didn’t the Mopes invade Spain in the 8th century? Wrong. Those were the Moops. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/13 "2017-04-25T15:47:10Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Wow! How did I miss this thread? Another chance to use my _Lighter, American Slang_ . > > Actually, _mope_ used as a noun is cited in 1540 in the **OED**. It meant a slow-witted person or a jerk. > > **mopery** used as a noun in print in the US appears in 1907. _Lighter_ says it meant > > There were various other meanings in and around the teens and twenties. But the above were the main ones. Yeah. You see it in a lot of fiction from the 20s through the 50s (Damon Runyon, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/14 "2017-04-25T16:37:13Z")
It’s a lesser included offense of dopery. Or is it the other way around? [IANAL](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=211820). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/15 "2017-04-25T16:45:15Z")
Mopery-Assault involving the use of a long handled cleaning appliance. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/16 "2017-04-25T16:46:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Mopery-Assault involving the use of a long handled cleaning appliance. That’s Moppery. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/17 "2017-04-25T16:48:51Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Wrong. Those were the Moops. No, I’m telling you it was the Mopes :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/18 "2017-04-25T16:52:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s Moppery. No, Mopery-based on Ye Olde Englishe spelling for “a wig tied to the end of stick”. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/19 "2017-04-25T16:59:03Z")
Where do the mooks fit into all of this? > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > [IANAL](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=211820). One of the all time classic threads. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096/20 "2017-04-25T17:00:24Z")
Yeah, “mopery” and “dopery” are often used in law-school hypotheticals, to avoid connotations that would be present from using terms for actual crimes. They’re basically placeholders which could be substituted by any given crime. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-mopery/55096.md?page=2)