There was a letter to the editor yesterday which ended with this sentence:

 "In a couple of generations, we have grown so peelywally."

 A word I had never seen, but it so totally expresses what it is that I am much taken by it. It leaves no doubt that it is negative and even - dare one say - derisive. Beloved Google eventually explained it is Scottish and (more or less) literally means 'pale' or 'washed out'. But it also stands four square behind 'spleeny'.

The letter writer was bemoaning how soft we have become today. In referring to a previous letter where the author had complained that it had become so cold one morning the furnace had come on. This apparently happened at 18C degrees.

The responding letter writer pointed out that she came from a time where her mother kept the bathtub filled with water so they could take a pail and flush the john if the pipes froze.

Since I had two bouts in my formative years of living with the use of an outhouse, I can sneer and put my hands on hips and accuse them of both being peelywally.