gumption trap
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Coined by Robert M. Pirsig in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974).
Noun[edit]
gumption trap (plural gumption traps)
- (informal) An event or mindset that can cause a person to lose enthusiasm and become discouraged from starting or continuing a project.
- 1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, →ISBN, part III, page 304:
- There are hundreds of different kinds of gumption traps, maybe thousands, maybe millions. I have no way of knowing how many I don't know. I know it seems as though I've stumbled into every kind of gumption trap imaginable.