Word of the Week: Namby-Pamby

Namby-Pamby (adjective)

Pronounced:

nam-bee-PAM-bee

Definitions:

1: lacking in character or substance : insipid
2: weak, indecisive

Example Sentence:

With jovial taunting already well-underway, Mark told his foosball opponent that he was “not afraid of his namby-pamby wooden men.”

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Did you know?

Merriam-Webster explains the amusing origin of this fun-to-say word:

“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.”