Clickety clackety

[petra]

20K of original story.

Does everyone who knows one of the false etymologies of where the term "mollify" comes from have difficulty using it without imagining characters dressing each other up in drag to calm down, or is it just me?

Comments

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

"mollycoddle" on the other hand? DOES come from "molly." and the online ety dictionary entry is funny in its own right:

1833, originally a noun, "one who coddles himself," from Molly (pet name formation from Mary), used contemptuously from 1754 for "a milksop, an effeminate man" + coddle (q.v.). The verb is 1870, from the noun.

"milksop"? really?

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

Is milquetoast more or less to your liking?

I like that mollycoddle = wank. I did not know that.

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

"milquetoast" is like one of my favorite words ever actually. there's something inherently hilarious about it.