the.com/flunky
Someone who confuses loyalty with having no spine of their own.
means A servile underling who runs errands and carries out orders without question, often currying favor rather than exercising judgment.
from Likely a Scots alteration of 'flanker' or related to 'flank' — originally the word described a liveried footman who ran alongside ('flanking') a carriage, trotting at the side of his master's vehicle to be ready for orders. By the 1800s it had curdled into an insult, used for anyone who serves power too eagerly and thinks too little.
- origin
- possibly from flunk, to fail or give way
- job description
- agree first, think later
- org chart
- exists only to make the boss look taller
- classic sighting
- nodding enthusiastically at a bad idea