In Search of Words

It was reading Theodore White's "In Search of History" started me "In Search of Words".

Both of today's main words were ones I first became aware of while reading that book, and were so unknown to me that I wrote them down for later research into their meaning.

The second one, troglodyte, I remember was used as an adjective of Mao Tse Tung, who as a revolutionary prior to the march that took over China had been living in a cave. That is its primary meaning, although it can also mean someone living in seclusion (like Greta Garbo, I suppose). I have since run across its use several times, more to mean caveman than cavedweller: with a sense of prehistoric development to it rather than relating to someone living in a cave. It could more accurately refer to the early Christians who lived in the catacombs, in my opinion, than to someone with an unenlightened view of things.

Speaking of caves, a fun word is spelunking, which defines people who like to explore caves. While it sounds like an onomatopoetic word (one formed from the sound associated with the object) it actually comes from the Greek word for cave. But I digress.

The other word from White's book for consideration today is sycophant. I don't remember its reference, but when I looked it up in the dictionary I had found something of value. I had been looking for just such a word; sycophant refers to someone who seeks favor of another person through the use of flattery. Up until I read that word the only phrase I knew to describe it was "brown-noser" and I wasn't sure if the phrase was scatological (referring to feces/excrement, which I'll leave for another day) or racist (a phrase remaining from slavery days). Either way, I preferred my new word.

Since then, I've happened upon a similar word, toady, which has a very interesting etymology (word origin). Back in the day when medicines were sold by travelling salesmen, their efficacy was difficult to demonstrate, so (too often) the saleman's assistant would demonstrate how well the medicines "worked". Since toads were thought to be poisonous the assistant would eat a toad, then take the "medicine" to counteract the allegedly poisonous effects of the toad. Now the word means anyone willing to do something distasteful (to say the least) to curry someone's favor.

Sycophant has a less negative connotation than toady, having more of an adoring servile quality. A slightly less negative phrase is "yes-man", which has no sense of adoration, only spineless agreement.

So, is it better to be a sycophant or a troglodyte? Hard to tell, but I'm grateful (there's an interesting word - see how it happens?) for the wonderful journey on which those two words have taken me.