{"id":15193,"date":"2016-05-13T14:30:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T19:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hcstx.org\/?p=15193"},"modified":"2016-05-13T14:30:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T19:30:34","slug":"word-history-11-craven-words-for-cowards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/13\/word-history-11-craven-words-for-cowards\/","title":{"rendered":"Word History: 11 Craven Words for Cowards"},"content":{"rendered":"

As \u00a0Writer and Historian, I have always been interested in etymology, especially regarding the subject of military history and warfare in general. If you guys have any interesting tidbits or interesting words regarding this subject, shoot me a comment. -SF<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"some<\/p>\n

From the time we\u2019re little children, we\u2019re taught the virtues of bravery, though not always in a positive way. Kids love to taunt each other with language like \u201cYou\u2019re yellow!\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re a chicken!\u201d As adults, we lambaste politicians for lacking the courage of their convictions. But the concept of cowardice is an old one, and there are many now-obscure words for, as Yosemite Sam might put it, lowdown yellow-bellies.<\/p>\n

1. WHITE LIVER<\/h4>\n

You\u2019ve probably heard a coward referred to as lily-livered<\/em>. This term shares the same concept: If your liver is white, it lacks the respectable red color of blood, and therefore belongs to a coward. White liver<\/em> has been around since at least 1614, but the adjective white-livered<\/em> is a little older, showing the eternal appeal of hyphenated insults. A white liver<\/em> can also be a flatterer.<\/p>\n

2. WHITE FEATHER<\/h4>\n

This term has no relation to white liver<\/em>, but arises from the symbolic meaning of a white feather: surrender. If you \u201cshow the white feather\u201d or \u201chave a white feather in your tail,\u201d you’re yella. From those uses in the late 1700s on, this became a rare synonym for coward<\/em>. There\u2019s also an amusing variation: whitefeatherism<\/em>, as seen in a 1909 issue of The Leather Worker\u2019s Journal<\/em>: \u201cIt is a good answer, for it is as full of determination as theirs is of weak-kneed white featherism.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. SKITTERBROOK<\/h4>\n

This rare term, adopted and adapted from Dutch in the 1600s, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as \u201cOne who befouls his breeches.”<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0That\u2019s a sure sign of cowardice in any era.<\/p>\n

4. DASTARD<\/h4>\n

Though dastardly<\/em> is still a common word, at least when describing villains, you don\u2019t seedastard<\/em> much anymore. The word has a long, if not proud, history: The first uses, back in the 1400s, are synonymous with dullard<\/em> before the word takes on the odor of cowardice and downright diabolical devilry.<\/p>\n

5. CRINGELING<\/h4>\n

These days, cringe<\/em> is associated with comedy that\u2019s overly awkward\u2014like The Office<\/em>\u2014but cringing has long signified a lack of testicular fortitude. Since at least the late 1700s, acringeling<\/em> has been someone who lacks courage (or just likes to suck up to superiors). In his 1899 book The Teacher and His Work<\/em>, Samuel Findley made an eternally true observation: \u201cWhat cringelings most men are, and how admirable is true courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the Remainder at Mental Floss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As \u00a0Writer and Historian, I have always been interested in etymology, especially regarding the subject of military history and warfare in general. If you guys have any interesting tidbits or interesting words regarding this subject, shoot me a comment. -SF From the time we\u2019re little children, we\u2019re taught the virtues of bravery, though not always…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3647,5938,1286,8717,11606],"tags":[11603,11604,3583,11605],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}