Word: toadyism
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Dates: during 1870-1879
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...says that he merely stated where we said he argued a certain proposition. Any reader will see that our " argue " meant no more than " state." This is trivial fault-finding. Further he says that our inference that part of his aim was to show that there was little toadyism in college was, as he thinks, intentionally wrong. We are glad that such was not his aim, and willingly withdraw our inference. The secret of how to refute our main proposition lies neither in personalities of the stump-speech sort, nor in a noise about trivial errors...
...mind. We said that there are men in college who show in an offensive and silly way their complete independence and their hostility to popular prejudices. We have heard them express their contempt for social success, and declare the whole college is imbued with the spirit of toadyism. But when we contrasted their present views with the opinions they entertained when they came to college, we could not help recalling the instructive fable of the fox and the grapes...
...article is to demolish the `independent man,'" says the critic, "and, we infer, to disprove the existence at college to any great degree of that fungoid growth, toadyism." Nothing was further from our purpose than to disprove the existence of that "fungoid growth"; on the contrary, we regret that there is so much of it here; but we ventured to suggest that the epithet is often applied too indiscriminately. The misinterpretation of our meaning is so obvious that we do not see how it could be made accidentally...
...trouble at the bottom of this matter is, that some persons are possessed with the idea that there is no mean between officious independence and toadyism. This fact "G. E." has avoided. He merely says that popularity is the result of insincerity. If he will take the pains to look through college, he will find that the really popular men are those who maintain a manly independence, but do not let their tongues run away with them...
...what keeps toadyism alive, the obvious answer is the desire to be popular. Frankness of expression is not compatible with a certain popularity. Nay, more, if you would be popular, you must not by your silence let it be suspected that you inwardly frown on most or much or even some of your neighbors' modes of thought and action. Silence, because men do not know how much you disapprove, is more feared than open censure, and in the uncertainty your disapproval is overestimated, and in proportion feared...