This is probably a very politically incorrect column.

But who cares?

When I see the so-called “occupy” crowd around Washington, one old-fashioned, seldom-heard word comes to mind – “moochers.”

It’s a good word, and I don’t know why it has gone out of fashion.

The dictionary definitions of the verb “mooch” are:

• to borrow (a small item or amount) without intending to return or repay it.

• to get or take without paying or at another’s expense; sponge.
• to beg.
• to steal.

If the verb is used without an object – like “cigarettes” – it means:

• to skulk or sneak.

• to loiter or wander about.

Notice how all of these definitions apply perfectly to the “occupiers” – who are borrowing parks without any intent of returning them or paying for them or even restoring them to the state they were in before being “occupied.” They make demands for stuff they have no intention of paying for. They are indeed “sponges.” They beg. They steal. And they skulk around, loiter and wander about without a care.

They are classic “moochers” – people who mooch.

What are some synonyms for moochers?

• beggar

• dependent
• down-and-outer
• guttersnipe
• indigent
• medicant
• vagrant
• ward of the state
• vagrant, ward of state
• do-nothing
• lazy person
• bum
• couch potato
• deadbeat
• good-for-nothing
• goof-off
• idler
• laggard
• lazybones
• loafer
• malingerer
• shirker
• slacker
• sloth
• sponger
• sluggard
• derelict
• dud
• incompetent
• cadger
• freeloader
• barnacle
• leech
• parasite

Do you get the picture?

These are not only synonyms for “moocher.” They’re synonyms for the bedraggled, unshaven, unkempt, scuzzy, confused dirtbags who call themselves “occupiers.”

Is there even one synonym that misses the target?

I don’t think so.

But, my favorite term is moocher.

Why?

Because, in the olden days, when this term was still widely used, nobody liked a moocher.

So it’s time to bring it back.

That might be the only thing the occupiers have to show for all their malingering and loitering at the end of the day. They might be responsible for reintroducing what has become an archaic term back into the popular usage. That’s what they should be remembered for – as well as the smelly mess of bio-hazardous material they inevitably leave behind. The occupiers are classic moochers.

Am I being too judgmental here?

Is this too harsh?

Maybe, because I agree with some of the occupiers about one thing – ending the bailouts of the Wall Street crowd, some of whom are even bigger moochers than the occupiers. But that’s where the agreement ends.

I know this is not what the gang at HuffingtonPost/AOL want to hear. To them, the occupiers are the vanguard of the revolution – the lumpenproletariat who will save America from monopoly capitalism.

Who do you think has them pegged more accurately – me or Arianna?

They actually believe that sitting on cardboard and defecating in public places is an honorable activity. They think of themselves as prophets – smarter than the rest of us, seeing things only they can see from their unique vantage point in life, a vantage point they don’t even recognize as privileged.

These are not people to be taken seriously – to debate with, to “understand,” to reason with, to cover as “news.” They deserve nothing but mocking and ridicule.

That’s what you do with moochers.

Which explains why we haven’t been using the term much lately. No one wants to be labeled a moocher. But the dependency class represented so inarticulately and inartfully by the “occupiers” deserves no less.

That’s not to say people in need shouldn’t be cared for. It’s simply not a role for the federal government under the Constitution or under the rule of common sense. It’s a job for relatives, friends, churches, synagogues, missions, local communities.

We had a lot fewer moochers when the job was left to the people best able to sort out real need from the slovenly desires of ne’er-do-wells.

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