SCUPPER: to prevent from happening or succeeding; ruin; wreck.

There I was, opening my favorite newspaper, The Martha’s Vineyard Gazette, which had just come in the mail. I love this paper. It is huge, forcing me to extend my arms widely in order to hold it. It is filled with all kinds of great stories written by great writers.

But then I saw the headline: Financial Shortfalls to Scupper Some Affordable Housing Plans. I read it again to be sure I had seen it correctly. Yes, there it was: Scupper. I have never seen the word before, and now I know why.

Scupper is a boating term, referring to the built-in device to remove excess water from the boat, preventing the swamping of the boat. No wonder I didn’t know the word…I’m not a boater. I’m not even comfortable on the water.

But my curiosity wasn’t satisfied by this discovery. The use of the word Scupper in the Gazette headline didn’t compute. Looking down the list of definitions in Dictionary.com, I found it: Scupper: to prevent from happening or succeeding; ruin; wreck. Now it all made sense.

What a great word to describe what we have been watching take place in Washington over the past several weeks:

1. Threats of filibuster. Confusing Jimmy Stewart movies. The season calls for It’s a Wonderful Life, not Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

2. Sleep deprivation. Taking advantage of the knowledge that college-educated, white men over the age of 50 can’t function after 9:30.

3. Reading of the bill. Making sure that congressional clerks earn their salaries.

4. Calling down snow. Crippling travel, creating claustrophobia in D.C.

5. Holding a party hostage. Making sure Nevada and Louisiana aren’t forgotten.

6. Diversionary tactics. Slamming each other. Sticks and stones. Wastes time and avoids dealing with reality.

7. Grandstanding. Living out a fantasy of being a game show host on TV.

8. Writing fiction. Reporting imaginary facts which require time to clarify. It's like What's My Line?, a fifties game show where you have to figure out who's telling the truth.

9. Hiding the Bill. Playing Hide the Bacon, a childhood game where the object is hidden and the person who finds it wins the game.

10. Waiting for CBO. A congressional drama based on Waiting for Godot. There’s an awful lot of dry dialogue by people sitting on a bench waiting.

Scupper turns out to be a really great word. Lends itself to all kinds of metaphors and subtle allusions. It is descriptive, colorful, and carries with it the scent of decaying ocean kelp washed up on the rocky shore and buckets of fish bait stored on the deck of creaking fishing boats…waiting to be tossed into the churning sea and gobbled up by voraciously hungry fish unaware of the concealed hooks.

Definition credit:Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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