Today's word: fumble, mumble, stumble

2/3/2008
I watched the Super Bowl between the Giants and the Patriots on TV tonight. I've never watched an American football game even on TV because I am not a sports fan. Even during the 2002 Korea-Japan world cup, when a huge crowd of Koreans went out into the streets in red T-shirts, I was still not interested in any of the sports events. However, this time I decided to see what an American football game was like. I was curious about why people are so crazy about it.

While watching the game, I asked my husband whether players fought over the ball. He answered no, unless a player fumbles. Fumble? I remember he used the word when he dropped an incense stick the other day. I teased him for being clumsy. I looked up the word in an online dictionary, and found that to fumble means "to touch or handle clumsily or idly" or "to drop a ball that is in play" (in football) [American Heritage dictionary].

This word reminds me of another word "mumble". As a non-native English speaker, I really dislike it when a person is mumbling because it makes it hard to understand. I think mumbling is kind of like being clumsy or idle when making a sound. To me, mumbling is like eating your words inside your mouth. In a dictionary, it means "to utter indistinctly by lowering the voice or partially closing the mouth" [American Heritage dictionary].

Another word that comes to my mind is "stumble", which means "to miss one's step in walking or running; trip and almost fall" or "to act or speak falteringly or clumsily"[American Heritage dictionary]. All three of these words ending with '–umble' seem to mean 'to do something clumsily.' Interesting coincidence I found!