In Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Grandpa Joe said: If she’s a lady, then I’m a Vermicious Knid!
Monster.
Featured in the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Very flexible, if I recall correctly.
Shapeshifters, in fact, if I recall.
I just wanted to share how pleased I am with myself that I was able to connect the term with Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator prior to reading the OP, even though I read the book 23 years ago! 
[sub]So why can’t I find my car keys? 
[/sub]
Virmicious Knids also appeared in Roald Dahl’s classic “The Minpins”, as denizens of the “Forest of Sin” (“Beware! Beware! The Forest of Sin! None come out, but many go in!”).
Are you all sure it isn’t Pernicious Knid? Because pernicious is a real word. It means ‘evil’.
Nope. They’re called Vermicious Knids
P.56 Of “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”
And they come from the planet Vermes…as everyone knows. 
Shapeshifters yes, but not in the same sense that it is used in many sci fi stories. They could mould themselves like clay into various shapes. In “The Great Glass Elevator”, five knids formed themselves into the word “SCRAM” to warn off Charlie and company.
When I worked a job dealing with stage lighting equipment, we dealt with a lot of cheap Par-Can lights. If anybody out there has ever dealt with these, they know that they tend to have hellish flaws in the lens, causing hot spots in the beam.
My boss called a large one of these a Vermicious Knit.
Given, I still don’t really understand why, but I feel that I am one step closer. Fighting ignorance indeed!
Grandpa Joe had heard Mr. Wonka use the term while describing the dismal conditions the the Oompa-Loompas faced in their native lands. It must have been rather fresh in his mind throughout the tour.
(My younger daughter is a great fan of Dahl. She is currently reading The BFG again.)
Does anyone know if Muggle-Wump in The Twits is named for the Mugwumps in William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch? 'Cuz it really colours my perception of the book. And Dahl is just twisted enough to make a reference like that.
I don’t where Dahl or Burroughs found their inspiration, but mugwump was a 19th century political slang word. It derived from an Algonquin term for “chief” and originally meant a pompous politician. It later was more widely used to refer to a voter who jumped from his registered party to vote for the opposition candidate.
[“Mugwump”] later was more widely used to refer to a voter who jumped from his registered party to vote for the opposition candidate.
Popularly attributed to the characteristic posture of a fence-sitter, with his mug on one side of the fence and his wump on the other.
My husband is a 7th grade science teacher. The other day, he came home with a worried look on his face. “My kids have started to call me The BFG,” he said. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
I sat the poor ignorant boy down with a copy of Danny the Champion of the World and its spin-off, The BFG. He was much relieved.
A note on Vermicious Knids: The “vermi” prefix generally means “worm-like” or “pertaining to worms.” I always imagined them as looking like giant leeches.
It’s not a joke word.
Vermicious just mean “wormlike” and knids are a type of worm.
Off to Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ