Thing Not To Do Today: gazump someone.

Gazumping sounds sounds fun (and it might be, if you like inflicting agonising disappointment on people) but gazumping is selfish and often plain wrong.

Gazump is a British and Australian word, and it usually refers to a house sale. It happens when someone has agreed a price for a house and then a dastardly gazumper goes in and offers a higher price, causing the original buyer to lose the purchase.

The meaning of gazump has now spread outwards and now might cover a swindle such as a house seller (or his agent) pretending to have a gazumping offer; or it might be an example of just plain demanding more money for a house at the last minute. 

Some sensible countries like Scotland have laws which make this practice illegal.

Here in England, though, we have to keep our fingers crossed as a house sale goes through, while we gradually go white with terror.

Thing Not To Do Today: gazump someone. This word appeared in the 1920s when it meant to swindle. It may come from the Yiddish gezumph, to overcharge or cheat.