# What is Vermicious Knid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296 "2001-11-19T22:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/1 "2001-11-19T22:12:37Z")
In Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Grandpa Joe said: If she’s a lady, then I’m a Vermicious Knid! ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/2 "2001-11-19T22:19:45Z")
Monster. Featured in the sequel, **Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator**. Very flexible, if I recall correctly. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/3 "2001-11-19T22:21:30Z")
Shapeshifters, in fact, if I recall. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/4 "2001-11-19T22:43:20Z")
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] ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/5 "2001-11-19T22:45:37Z")
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!”). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/6 "2001-11-19T23:22:43Z")
Are you all sure it isn’t _Pernicious_ Knid? Because pernicious is a real word. It means ‘evil’. ---
**Author:** ![MattyG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MattyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattyG)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/7 "2001-11-19T23:32:40Z")
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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/8 "2001-11-19T23:33:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Shapeshifters, in fact, if I recall. \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![meyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@meyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meyer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/9 "2001-11-20T00:17:25Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/10 "2001-11-20T00:29:02Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/11 "2001-11-20T00:44:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/12 "2001-11-20T01:02:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Does anyone know if Muggle-Wump in The Twits is named for the Mugwumps in William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/13 "2001-11-20T02:22:20Z")
_[“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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/14 "2001-11-20T02:37:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\* > (My younger daughter is a great fan of Dahl. She is currently reading _The BFG_ again.) \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![107.7\_the\_Bone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@107.7\_the\_Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/107.7_the_Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/15 "2001-11-20T03:02:13Z")
It’s not a joke word. Vermicious just mean “wormlike” and knids are a type of worm. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-vermicious-knid/94296/16 "2001-11-20T03:32:05Z")
Off to Cafe Society. bibliophage moderator GQ