I heard a good Smithism (or malapropism) the other day: a friend at work referred to somebody as having been mother cuddled as a child. I think the word he was looking for was mollycoddled!
Very nice.
But I wonder whether there is a connection between 'cuddled' and the 'coddled' of mollycoddled. The Concise OED says on coddle: C16, origin uncertain; in the sense 'treat in an indulgent or overprotective way', is probably a dialect variant of caudle (obsolete), 'administer invalids' gruel'.
On cuddle, all it says is: C16, of unknown origin. So I wouldn't be surprised if they were cognates. Anyone know?
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