Namby-Pamby

During the 18th-century, poets like Alexander Pope and Henry Carey didn't think much of their contemporary Ambrose Philips. His mushy, singsong verses were too childlike and simple for their palates. Both the poets took a jab at Philips by calling him ‘namby-pamby’ and not long enough, the term was applied to any piece of writing that was insipidly precious, simple, or sentimental, and later for anyone considered pathetically weak or indecisive.