Get this thing out of my mouth.

Dear Word Detective: I have always maintained that the phrase for being in a hurry is “…champing at the bit.” I am in the minority, however, since everyone I know says “chomping.” Of course, these are the same people who may cite this clarification as a “mute point” rather than “moot,” but I am always trying to educate them. Can I have your assistance? — Anita.

“To champ at the bit” is a metaphor meaning “to be very eager to get started” on a task or enterprise (”The new owners were champing at the bit to cut employee benefits”). The “bit” in question is the metal bar in a bridle that goes inside the horse’s mouth, and the analogy of “champing at the bit” is to a racehorse at the starting line excitedly chewing on its bit in visible eagerness to begin a race.

While one of those horses will win the race and become the “champion” (at least for a few minutes), the shortened form of that word, “champ,” is unrelated to the bite sort of “champ.” “Champion” is from the Latin “campio,” meaning “combatant,” based on “campus,” or “field,” in this case a battlefield.

But the sort of “champ” that horses do is almost certainly onomatopoeic or “echoic” in origin, meaning that “champ” arose as an imitation of the sound of an animal noisily chewing something. “Champ” is a fairly recent word, dating only to the 16th century, and “champ at the bit” applied figuratively to eager humans is even more recent, first appearing at the end of the 19th century. “Chomp,” incidentally, is simply a popular variant of “champ” (much as “stamp” begat “stomp”), so while “champing at the bit” is the more established form, “chomping at the bit” can’t really be said to be incorrect.

You’re on more solid ground in your rejection of “mute point.” “Moot” was originally a legal term applied to a hypothetical debate (as in “moot court,” where law students practice effective argument), and a “moot point” was originally one well-suited to such lively practice debates. But as hypothetical debates by definition have no real-world consequences, “moot” has gradually come to mean “irrelevant.” “Mute” has nothing to do with either meaning of “moot,” and “mute point” really doesn’t make any sense. It’s a case of people substituting a word they know (”mute”) for an unfamiliar one (”moot”), a process known as “folk etymology.” It’s a very common process in the evolution of language, so brace yourself. Like it or not, if enough people start saying “mute point,” it will eventually become the standard form.