Lickspittle

29 Replies

Have you ever had a thought or an idea that you believed was 100% original only to see it on a billboard or in a book? Or have you ever used a word from your distant past and suddenly that word shows up everywhere? Or how about a picture….

What, you ask, is the context for using this particular archaic word? I uttered it recently in an argument I was having in a fictional location in my head. Yes, I’m that kind of weird. This incident may or may not show up in a short story one day but I was having a delicious time insulting someone.

I laughed when I remember lickspittle because it is not a word that I have seen for decades. It is not in modern day parlance.  Several days later I saw it in a blog and I almost fell out of my chair. It was perfect. This is someone I follow because of his quirky sense of humour that fits in perfectly with mine. Troglodyte.  Another little used word I bandied in my rant and sure enough it shows up on a blog. What are the odds?

A dear friend that I met in the blogging world sends me pictures or cartoons that she thinks I will find amusing or adorable. She has always been right. We only know each other through our words but she knows me well. She is a dear friend. So, when I got her email recently and opened up her picture, I expected to see something that would make me smile or laugh out loud instead my reaction was one of shock. I was looking at something that I have not seen in decades!

We are hundreds if not thousands of miles apart. We are not of the same age group. We live in different countries. When I drew my picture, blogging wasn’t a thing. There was no Internet. We had phones that were connected to the wall and we had clean air. Sorry, I shouldn’t complain about that. This isn’t a rant about clean air, clean water, better health. This is about something that is impossible, but is it? What I’m saying is that it is not possible for her to have been in my head or even known about me all those years ago.  Is it?

I was speaking with someone recently about race memory. About how some cultures instinctively know things that are only known in that particular culture. Much can be taught simply by observation yes, I agree. But what if there’s more to it? What if there is an intangible something that is meandering through the ether that connects us? What if Ginger is somehow tied into my psyche and when she saw a picture that resembled mine, she unconsciously gravitated towards it? Could that be why she shared it with me? I have no idea. What I do know is that her picture, while not exactly identical, was enough to throw me off my seat. In this post I have included both her picture and the one I drew in 1979 for your perusal.  What do you think?

     

 

 

Oh, and the meaning of lickspittle:   sycophant, abject toady, one who will do any repulsive thing,

Troglodyte:  a person who is regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned.

 

It was a really good rant! Never make a redhead angry…

 

29 thoughts on “Lickspittle”

  2. Dan Antion

    I think I saw the post where you noticed lickspittle. It is a curious and compelling wor. The other word connection is interesting. The painting/drawing connection is amazing. It’s like you both visited the same place and witnessed a scene from a slightly different point of view. For it to show up from a distance makes me think that there is a connection we don’t understand at work here. Perhaps you’re connected in a way we don’t understand.

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    1. quiall Post author

      When I first saw the picture the hair stood up at the back of my neck and I uttered an expletive I don’t usually use. It creeped me out and it was kind of exciting. There is so much we don’t know…

      Liked by 2 people

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  3. Murphy’s Law

    I was called “Nincanpoop” more than once when I was growing up! Haven’t heard that phrase for years. Then a month or so ago my friend was telling me something about her dog and referred to him as a Nincanpoop. A few weeks later the word appeared in a book I was reading. WTH!

    When I first saw that photo I immediately thought of you. “Pam will love this” I thought. Little did I know! Or, as you said, did I know somewhere in my unconscious mind?

    When you sent me your sketch, done all those years ago, I was flabbergasted! What are the odds? I love your sketch Pam. I love the simplicity of it. Mostly I love you dear friend.

    We are definitely twisted sisters from different misters! Lol!
    Ginger

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    1. quiall Post author

      I love that picture you sent! But it still leaves me a little creeped out. How, how? It is so similar to something I did so many decades ago. Coincidence? A connection through the ether? Magic? I don’t know and I don’t care. I love our connection dear sister. And I have been called nincompoop more times than I care to remember.

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  4. dweezer19

    It does not surprise me at all, Pam. Synchronicity plays a huge role in my life. We use the word Troglodyte quite often in our house. I had never heard of Lickspittle (gag) before but can think of quite a few prominent figures that could be described as such. I love your sketch and the photo from Ginger. Connections…❤️

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. quiall Post author

      Thanks Cheryl. That was fun to write. And it also made the hair stand up on the back of my neck when I saw her picture. I do love a little creepy…

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  5. Dale

    Funny… Just last night troglodyte was used in response to my post. It’s one of those things. I definitely have to use lickspittle in the future. I had to look it up – because I do that for confirmation, mostly. and this is what I got:
    noun: lickspittle; plural noun: lickspittles; noun: lick-spittle; plural noun: lick-spittles
    a person who behaves obsequiously to those in power.
    “he is a lickspittle for the Establishment”
    I love when, the regular person has to then look up a word in the definition of the word they are looking up. Not everyone knows what obsequiously means!
    Anyway… back to your post. It is uncanny how things like your sketch and a photo find each other. Both are so lovely, by the way.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. quiall Post author

      Thanks Dale. I always thought of lickspittle as one who licks boots to power. It’s an image I’ve never gotten out of my head. But I do like obsequious. That word I have used more than once, perhaps far too often. But it is so descriptive.

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  7. Sorryless

    I think it’s motivation for me, this idea in the back of my head that a particular thing I write might have come from somewhere else and I’ve subconsciously been toting it around. So I TRY to be original, even though I know we pick up everything, we hold things without even knowing we are holding them.

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      2. quiall Post author

        We are thousands of miles apart in different countries. Who knows how these things work. I was shocked when she sent me the photo. Now you know why.

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  9. Widdershins

    What a wonderful connection. 😀 I think things are ‘out there’ waiting for their time here on this physical plane, and they send out ‘feelers’, so to speak, to catch the attention of anyone who might be interested in paying Attention to them. That’s why scientific discoveries, or inventions, can happen at about the same time on completely different sides of the planet.
    This thing we call our physical reality is, after all, just the first layer of many that exist just beyond the ends of our fingertips.
    Have you seen The Hobbit movie trilogy? There’s a character in the second and third movies, who isn’t in the books, called Alfrid Lickspittle, and very aptly named he is too.
    So there you go, a bit of trivia to liven up your day. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. quiall Post author

      I love the way you put things! And you are right, I believe there’s more out there than we are capable of understanding. But it is at work all the same. I have seen the Hobbit movies and you’re right I did know about Alfred Lickspittle but I had forgotten about him. I wonder if they got his name based on that word,.

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