"The church here is tough and coarse, and full of grit, like a grindstone; and it does ministers from other more niminy-piminy places all sorts of good to come here once in a while and rub themselves up against it."
- Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware, ch. 17
"'I utterly refuse to have that niminy-piminyblackguard on my quarterdeck,' said Jack. 'The port-admiral be damned.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 73
"The church here is tough and coarse, and full of grit, like a grindstone; and it does ministers from other more niminy-piminy places all sorts of good to come here once in a while and rub themselves up against it."
- Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware, ch. 17
Aw, this word makes me happy because it reminds me so much of the opening of Little Women:
"I detest rude, unladylike girls!"
"I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!"
I'm going to use that phrase daily. The port-admiral be damned.
Yes! The port-admiral be damned.
I call for different grades of affected daintiness. Why else could you pair niminy-piminy with blackguard?
*stomping onto the page* Hey! Who says we're not dainty??
Do namby-pamby and niminy-piminy represent different grades of affected daintiness, or are they exact synonyms?
I think it's safe to say that almost no on here on Wordie fits the definition up there.
"'I utterly refuse to have that niminy-piminy blackguard on my quarterdeck,' said Jack. 'The port-admiral be damned.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 73