Sunday Rest: MAMIL.

 What's a MAMIL?

Well, what does it sound like?

Yes, it sounds like mammal.

So, presumably, MAMIL is something to do with mammary glands (ie bosoms) or the state of being an animal of the class Mammalia, which feeds its young on home-produced milk.

And is it?

Nope. No MAMIL ever fed his young on home-produced milk* and that's one reason why MAMIL is a word to avoid. 

The other reason is: well, there's no need to sneer, is there?

Sunday Rest: MAMIL. This word is an acronym. The letters stand for Middle-Aged Man In Lycra and the word refers to keen male cyclists of a certain age. 

The word Lycra is a trade name registered in 1955 by E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Delaware, USA for an elastic polyurethane fibre.

That's a pity, really, because it would have made a really good name for the heroine of a fantasy trilogy.

*If there are trans activists out there hoping to be offended by no...ever...I mean really rather seldom. Okay?