namby-pamby

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 11, 2009 is: namby-pamby • \nam-bee-PAM-bee\ • adjective 1 : lacking in character or substance : insipid 2 : weak, indecisive Examples: The candidate criticized her opponent during the debate, calling him a namby-pamby flip-flopper who could not stand up for what he believed in. Did you know? Eighteenth-century poets Alexander Pope and Henry Carey didn't think much of their contemporary Ambrose Philips. His sentimental, singsong verses were too childish and simple for their palates. In 1726, Carey came up with the rhyming nickname "Namby-Pamby" (playing on "Ambrose") to parody Philips: "Namby-Pamby's doubly mild / Once a man and twice a child . . . / Now he pumps his little wits / All by little tiny bits." In 1733, Pope borrowed the nickname to take his own satirical jab at Philips in the poem "The Dunciad." Before long, "namby-pamby" was being applied to any piece of writing that was insipidly precious, simple, or sentimental, and later to anyone considered pathetically weak or indecisive. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.