Toadies

[ebonlock]

Ok so I'm currently watching "The Worst Jobs in History" (the Stuarts) and just found out where the word "toady" came from. Apparently they were the sidekicks of quack medical practitioners peddling their cure alls. The "toady" would appear to swallow a poisonous toad and then be "cured" by the quack's medicine. Is it wrong to be so utterly delighted by etymology? Yeah, ok, I'm a word geek, I cop to that.

Comments

[frodobaggins252.livejournal.com]

yayay for word geekery!

Check out this article on the subject:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-toa1.htm

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I love etymology. But I'm an unashamed geek.
And being a Stuart was one of the worst jobs in history? Admittedly, you had an above average chance of being beheaded, but still. King of bloody England.

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

Etymology is wonderful; it's the evolution of language right before your eyes. I always have fun checking out the different languages from which so many of our words derive - to me, a dictionary without this information is simply incomplete. Fellow word-geeks unite!

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

It was worst jobs in the Stuart era, you goof and hosted by the guy who used to play Baldrick on Black Adder, which is quite appropriate. He decided the worst job was making violin strings, even worse than inspecting and carting off the dead as it turns out.

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

The guy formerly known as Baldrick hosted it? Now I *really* wish I'd seen it!

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Yeah he's the host. If you want I can record and throw some on a dvd for you.

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

That'd be great, thanks!