Toad and I are always a bit amused and more than a bit dismayed whenever a well-meaning friend addresses him as "Toadie"* (see below) or "Toady" as a sign of affection. Apparently they don't understand the negative connotation associated with this term. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, a "Toady" is "one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors: sycophant", with "parasite" listed as a synonym. Hmmmph! The etymology is given as a "shortening and alteration from toadeater". How horrible!
Here's more, from The Free Dictionary:
Word History: The earliest recorded sense (around 1690) of toady is "a little or young toad," but this has nothing to do with the modern usage of the word. The modern sense has rather to do with the practice of certain quacks or charlatans who claimed that they could draw out poisons. Toads were thought to be poisonous, so these charlatans would have an attendant eat or pretend to eat a toad and then claim to extract the poison from the attendant. Since eating a toad is an unpleasant job, these attendants came to epitomize the type of person who would do anything for a superior, and toadeater (first recorded 1629) became the name for a flattering, fawning parasite. Toadeater and the verb derived from it, toadeat, influenced the sense of the noun and verb toad and the noun toady, so that both nouns could mean "sycophant" and the verb toady could mean "to act like a toady to someone."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Needless to say, Toad doesn't much care for having his name besmirched by adding a y or an ie to the end and thereby changing his image from that of a perfectly wonderful creature to one of a sycophant! However, even the marvelous, lovable Mr. Toad of Toad Hall has had the same unintentionally insulting nickname used to address or refer to him at times, so my Toad is in good company.
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I love them both, warts and all!
*By the way, as a noun the word Toadie is not spelled correctly. The correct spelling is Toady, with the plural being Toadies. The verb forms for those who fawn and flatter are toadies, toadying, and toadied. (Being toadied has another meaning for me, speaking from personal experience, but that is indeed too personal to discuss here. ;0 )
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