A few hundred years ago a chump was a thick lump of wood. Nowadays we know a chump to be someone who is foolish or easily deceived. Without too much imagination you can see how one meaning has morphed over time into the other. The man in our picture is a chump. In fact he is the King Chump, Mr Mitchell T Lavin from Cincinnati, Ohio who originally sent the ‘chump’ ambigram used in this picture along to The Strand magazine in 1908 with the proviso:
‘I think it is the only word in the English language which has this peculiarity (being an ambigram that is), and therefore hope you will consider it worthy of insertion in your ‘Curiosities’ column’.
What a chump. You can make an ambigram out of practically any word. I should know. I love those suckers. On another note now I’ve got my hands on some marbling inks nothing can stop me! Instant backgrounds!
Cheers
id-iom
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