one's name is mud
(Redirected from name is mud)
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Ultimate origin unknown. Popularly attributed to Dr. Samuel Mudd's assistance to the assassin of president Abe Lincoln, but an older print dictionary already lists the phrase.
Phrase
[edit]- (informal, idiomatic) One is unpopular, in disgrace or embroiled in scandal; one's reputation is tarnished.
- His name will be mud once people learn the truth about why he was fired.
- 1993, “My Name is Mud”, performed by Primus:
- My name is Mud / Not to be confused with Bill, or Jack, or Pete, or Dennis / My name is Mud, it's always been / 'Cause I'm the most boring sonsabitch you've ever seen / I dress in blue, yes, navy blue from head to toe / I'm rather drab, except my patent shoes / I make 'em shine, well, most the time
- 2023 November 21, Zing Tsjeng, “AI is changing the world – and I’ve just eaten the underwhelming pasta that proves it”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 October 2026:
- Thanks to disastrously unpopular attempts by the likes of BuzzFeed to create AI-assisted content, its name is mud in the media industry.
Further reading
[edit]- Gary Martin (1997–), “Your name is mud”, in The Phrase Finder.