What hyphenated word meaning "weakly
sentimental" was coined to describe the poetry of Ambrose Philips?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
namby-pamby
Literature, especially poetry, that is
insipidly pretty or sentimental is namby-pamby.
The word was coined from the name of the poet
Ambrose Philips (died 1749), who wrote yuckily sentimental pastoral poetry that
was ridiculed by fellow poets Henry Carey and Alexander Pope.
The first OED citation for the
word is by Carey from his 1726 poem Namby Pamby - "So the
Nurses get by Heart Namby Pamby's Little Rhimes."
Note
that this poem was such a successful demolition of Philips that Carey himself
became known as Namby Pamby Carey and Philips became known as
Namby Pamby.
Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)
Feedback
Equally efficient demolition of visual artists and their following
of culture vultures: artsy-fartsy. When did that phrase first
appear, I wonder? I would guess the 60's, but probably earlier.
The first OED citation for artsy-fartsy
is from 1971.
x-slundgren@warnerpacific.edu
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I know, Mr. Moot, that you are a busy guy and rattle
these things off in your spare time, but just a little note on your
punctuation: "Yuckilly" (by the way, I think there's only one "l")should have
no comma after it, since it modifies "sentimental." Now take that comma and
re-insert it before "who wrote...," which requires one, being a non-defining
clause. Sorry to be such a stickler, but this being a language column and
all...
Changes made. Thanks
for the feedback. I was focused on my email problems this
week.
x-
jacko@lycos.com
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