Muppet

Muppet

We turn to Mike Thomas for this definition:

Not entirely sure about the origin of this one, although it's probably self-explanatory. It appeared in the crew during Pinafore 2000, and applies to anyone who's a bit useless at what they do or is just generally dumb. The sort of person you wouldn't send out for a packet of fags.

Originally, this only applied to crew members, but it was quickly realised that you could equally apply it to anybody – cast, committee, cabinet ministers, etc. During Yeomen, it became very common, and spawned a whole class of other words – notably muppethood, (being a muppet) muppet job (Any task that takes a long time, is very simple, and is incredibly boring) and muppetry (Any muppet-like act).

Common usages include:

You have just achieved Senior Muppethood!

Sweeping the stage? That's a muppet job.

Have you got any spare muppets? I need a hand...

You muppet! That was a really stupid thing to do.

Sam Smith suggests that those wishing to research the subject of Muppets further should take a look at this site for details of the Muppets.