There is a subset of you that probably just read that title and thought "hey dummy, you spelled crummy wrong."
Well you know what? You spelled dumby wrong. So there.
But no, seriously. Dumby is not a word. Crumby totally is. As is crummy. Don't trust me? Open up something with spell check or autocorrect and type them both in. Both are just fine. So now you're probably wondering, you wonderful hypothetical subset you, whether these two words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same way mean different things.
Oh, to be so simple as you, beautiful young subset. Simple and carefree.
Yes, it's pretty simple to look at those two spellings and think "huh, well one of them is probably referring to easily crumbled bread and the other to miserable situations. Simple enough." And yes, that would be pretty simple, and if you want to go ahead and use the two words like that, feel free. Just don't correct anyone else, because technically you're full of it.
The problem here comes from the fact that crummy as a word dates from the mid 1500s, and originally meant "easily crumbled" or "like bread." The alternate spelling of crumby showed up in the early 1700s, and meant "full of crumbs" or, you know, basically the exact same thing as the original spelling. Then, later on that same century, crummy took a detour through describing "an attractively plump, buxom woman" on its way to meaning "shoddy or poorly made" (which, I mean, seems pretty offensive to women).
While crummy was taking that bizarre track, crumby slid into slang usage for "louse," and may have influenced crummy's turn from a (admittedly misogynistic) compliment to an insult. Then, as if this weren't obnoxious enough, crummy went on to be used as a noun describing an old truck used to transport loggers to and from work.
So basically it's all just madness and what do you know, we now have a world where only a subset of the English speaking population even knows there's two spellings. So while you can go and look at your dictionary and see two distinct definitions, just recognize that only a weirdo would maintain any kind of usage superiority concerning either of these patently ridiculous words.
Well you know what? You spelled dumby wrong. So there.
But no, seriously. Dumby is not a word. Crumby totally is. As is crummy. Don't trust me? Open up something with spell check or autocorrect and type them both in. Both are just fine. So now you're probably wondering, you wonderful hypothetical subset you, whether these two words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same way mean different things.
Oh, to be so simple as you, beautiful young subset. Simple and carefree.
Yes, it's pretty simple to look at those two spellings and think "huh, well one of them is probably referring to easily crumbled bread and the other to miserable situations. Simple enough." And yes, that would be pretty simple, and if you want to go ahead and use the two words like that, feel free. Just don't correct anyone else, because technically you're full of it.
The problem here comes from the fact that crummy as a word dates from the mid 1500s, and originally meant "easily crumbled" or "like bread." The alternate spelling of crumby showed up in the early 1700s, and meant "full of crumbs" or, you know, basically the exact same thing as the original spelling. Then, later on that same century, crummy took a detour through describing "an attractively plump, buxom woman" on its way to meaning "shoddy or poorly made" (which, I mean, seems pretty offensive to women).
While crummy was taking that bizarre track, crumby slid into slang usage for "louse," and may have influenced crummy's turn from a (admittedly misogynistic) compliment to an insult. Then, as if this weren't obnoxious enough, crummy went on to be used as a noun describing an old truck used to transport loggers to and from work.
So basically it's all just madness and what do you know, we now have a world where only a subset of the English speaking population even knows there's two spellings. So while you can go and look at your dictionary and see two distinct definitions, just recognize that only a weirdo would maintain any kind of usage superiority concerning either of these patently ridiculous words.
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