Caspar Milquetoast

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This article is about the character and related usage. For other uses of milquetoast, see Milquetoast.

Caspar Milquetoast was a comic strip character created by Harold Webster in 1924 for his comic strip The Timid Soul, published in the New York World.[1] Webster continued to produce the comic strip until his death in 1952, after which his assistant Herb Roth carried it on for another year.[1]

The name is a deliberate misspelling of the name of a bland and fairly inoffensive food, milk toast. Milk toast is light and easy to digest, therefore appropriate food for someone with a weak or "nervous" stomach, or an invalid.

From this character, the term "milquetoast" has come into general usage to mean "weak and ineffectual." When the term is used to describe a person, it typically indicates someone of an unusually meek or submissive nature, who may appear overly sensitive, timid, indecisive, or cowardly.

[edit] Further reading

  • H. T. Webster, Introduction by Ring Lardner, The Timid Soul, Simon and Schuster (1931)
  • The Best of H. T. Webster: A Memorial Collection, Simon and Schuster (1953), hardcover, 254 pages.

[edit] Sources

  1. ^ a b Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Caspar Milquetoast.

[edit] See also


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