Toads and Toadies—Spanghew and Sycophants

I came across this small fellow today. Brushes with nature are always a delight, especially when they happen out of the blue, so there was no real competition for today’s photograph.

Toads, as everyone ought to know, are entirely harmless. They rid gardens of unwanted insects and yet, for centuries, have been maligned as vile and even demonic. Medieval texts lumped them in with dragons and other monstrosities tormenting the damned, and even souls in Purgatory were allegedly chewed upon by these unfortunate amphibians. By the 1560s, the word toad had already been applied to detestable people, as if the animal’s existence alone were not misery enough¹https://www.etymonline.com/word/toad.

This connection with the devil led to some particularly inventive cruelty. Rural folk, possessing an excessive aversion to toads, devised a charming pastime called “spanghew.” It involved placing a toad at one end of a long wooden plank, with the middle set on a raised surface—a pivot. A vigorous youth then struck the free end with all his might, launching the unfortunate creature skyward. Upon returning to the ground at speed, it would be reduced to a pulp. The point of this was not mere sadism—no, these folk were convinced that by obliterating the toad, they were dealing a fatal blow to a witch hiding within²Brockett, J.T., “A Glossary of North Country Words in Use; with their Etymology, and Affinity to other Languages; and Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions”, E. Charnley, 1829, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6-cQAAAAYAAJ.

A linguistic cousin to toad is toady, meaning a fawning sycophant, a word which emerged in the early 19th century³https://www.etymonline.com/word/toady. It has recently applied to a certain politician whom I shall tactfully leave unnamed. In the Cleveland dialect, such a person might have been called a “Greeaze-horn.”⁴BLAKEBOROUGH, RICHARD. DIALECT GLOSSARY OF Over 4,000 WORDS and IDIOMS NOW IN USE IN THE North Riding of Yorkshire, 1912. The term toady comes from toad-eater, which originated in the dubious practices of quack doctors. Their hapless assistants were forced to eat toads—once believed to be poisonous—to prove their master’s antidotes effective. From this, the phrase came to mean enduring indignities, much like swallowing something deeply unpleasant⁵https://www.etymonline.com/word/toady⁶Grose, Francis. “A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” 1785.. Over time, toad-eater became slang for an impoverished female relative or companion in a wealthy household, there to absorb all manner of humiliation for the amusement of her betters.

Few creatures have been so wrongly accused, so cruelly treated, and so linguistically abused—all while minding their own business.

• 1
  https://www.etymonline.com/word/toad
• 2
  Brockett, J.T., “A Glossary of North Country Words in Use; with their Etymology, and Affinity to other Languages; and Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions”, E. Charnley, 1829, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6-cQAAAAYAAJ
• 3
  https://www.etymonline.com/word/toady
• 4
  BLAKEBOROUGH, RICHARD. DIALECT GLOSSARY OF Over 4,000 WORDS and IDIOMS NOW IN USE IN THE North Riding of Yorkshire, 1912.
• 5
  https://www.etymonline.com/word/toady
• 6
  Grose, Francis. “A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” 1785.