The common name of any of several viviparous fishes of the genus Poecilia. They range from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America from southeastern North Carolina to Argentina in South America. Mollies were originally put in the genus Mollienesia, named after the French politician Comte François Nicolas Mollien (1758–1850) but were later added to Poecilia, which includes other common aquarium fish such as guppies and swordtails. Their current taxonomic classification is:
          Superorder: Acanthopterygii (spiny-rayed fishes)
          Order: Atheriniformes
          Family: Poeciliidae (livebearing toothcarps)
          Genus: Poecilia

Some of the better known species include:

The Amazon molly, P. formosa, is extremely interesting to geneticists. It is a gynogenetic fish that reproduces through the development of ameiotic diploid eggs triggered by insemination by males of related species without following karyogamie.

In other words, this species consists only of females, which copulate with males of other molly species but which do not receive any genetic material from those males. The sperm is used only to stimulate the development of the eggs. This process, termed pseudogamy is basically stimulated parthenogenesis. As you may have guessed, the name "Amazon" has nothing to do with where these fish are found (southwestern Texas into northeastern Mexico), but rather with the fact that all members are female.

This was a common slang term for gay men from the early 1700s to somewhere about 150 years after that. "Molly" was a purely descriptive, not particularly perjorative word, analogous to the modern "gay", and was the word gay men used to describe themselves. Really, at the time, this was about the only common word for the concept that there was-- "gay" and "homosexual" did not enter the language until much later. As far as i can tell, the idea of identifying gays as a distinct group deserving of a name was a fairly new one, and more often than not people even in this period seemed to refer to homosexuality as if it were an act rather than an inherent quality-- gays were referred to descriptively and usually in a roundabout manner, like "one who engages in that most horrible sin that shall not be named" as opposed to just "gay". The term "Molly" itself was some kind of reference to the feminine characteristics that mollies were assumed to be taking on.

See also buggery, Molly house. Or mollies, which is something completely different.

A young dentist moved in next door a few years ago. He was a swell guy, doing his time in the Air Force and on his way to dentisthood IRL, or whatever it's called. He and his wife had two dogs and were about to have their first baby. Our little girl was grammar school age at the time, so they liked to hang around and see what it was going to be like to be parents.



When I was a young man,
I ran away from home.
I went to join the circus.
I went to see the cotton candy world
And make me lots of money.
On my own . . .
For Molly.
Oh, my pretty Molly.
She's waiting all alone.
Someday soon I will return to her.


His name was Ken. Her name was Joy. Have you ever had someone tell you that if you're doing business with a dentist that you're doing business with the dentist's wife? This is actually true. I don't know what it is, but these seem to be the prime targets for women who want to own a professional husband and don't have the balls to go after a doctor. Maybe the dentist feels a pang of guilt about his underachievement in the world of medicine, and is easy prey.



Then I made the big time,
Bright lights show biz.
I'm really in the circus.
There's only one thing wrong . . .
I haven't saved a penny
On my own,
For Molly,
Ah, my pretty Molly,
But she's writing every day;
Molly understands so it's OK.


We went out to eat with them at the Outback one night, and (I swear to God) Joy told Ken what to eat for dinner. "You order the such and such and I'll order the so and so and you'll give me part of that and I'll let you have part of this and then we might have dessert if I'm still hungry." She was cute enough, but you could tell she wasn't going to age well. Ken was a damn good looking guy. He sorta looked like George Clooney. He and I played golf some afternoons over at the Air Force base, and he was fun to be around. A good sense of humor and a giving personality; all smiles.



Ride a windy boxcar
And see a thousand children,
Young and old.
Oh, that greasepaint smile
Can hide your soul.
Here comes the carousel;
Guess which town it is;
Feel the thrill.
Greasepaint covers everything
But winter's chill.


Big weepy strings come in that last part, just to make me feel the pain. It works.

This song was written by Biff Rose and I saw him do it on the Tonight Show back when Johnny Carson was the host. Biff Rose sorta faded away into obscurity, but this song never left my mind.



I'm reading Molly's letter.
The ink is fading
And the page is turning yellow.
Long ago
I promised Molly,
Don't you know
I . . .


Oh, yeah. Ken and Joy. Well, my little girl had a doll from the American Girls Collection. (Those things cost a fortune. Don't even get into them if you don't have a trust fund.) The doll's name was Molly. So she and I were over at Ken's house one day talking to him and I asked him if he'd thought of a name for the kid. (I'd had a few beers. I used to start drinking earlier than I do now. Old age, you know.) We knew it was going to be a girl and she was due any day. Ken says, "You know, we can't really think of a good name."

My daughter looks at me for guidance and I say, "Sarah's got a doll named Molly. Don't you like that name? I do."

Ken's eyes light up. "Molly? Hmmm. That is a nice name!"

Somehow he pitched this idea to his overbearing wife and they have a kid named Molly now. I haven't seen them in years, but that kid will always be Molly. It is not because of that doll my daughter had, however: It's because of this song that was running through my head that afternoon.



. . . I will close my eyes and go to her.



CST approved

This is a song by Ween, from the album The Pod.

This song makes no sense at all, and mostly I could not understand what they were saying. I looked up the lyrics someplace else and it seems the band themselves weren't too sure what they were talking about either.

Some of my favorite lyric snatches:

A hardened glob of hardened moosey in the zoo
You go fetch that moosey and you know I'm gonna fetch it too
You fetch that moosey and you know he's gonna dig it too
Mollymollymolly. . . .

Or this one:

The "arpschnitt up?" Van Winkle and a tinkle-dinkle-doo
We'll have a white Xmas with that snow "schnitt up?" Van Winkle say "Fuck You"

The effect on this song is to skip in and out while singing so that it has this start-and-stop effect, which may have them saying things we just can't hear and have to improvise what actually made it onto the tape.

There is a mention of "Eddie Dingle," which is interesting as Eddie Dingle does the guest vocal on "Nan" on their album God Ween Satan: The Oneness. Also they keep mentioning "Van Winkle," I think one of them must have seen a program or read a book while stoned because Rip Van Winkle keeps popping up in their songs at this point. They have a song called "Sketches of Winkle" later on this album. I think maybe they just like the sound of the word "Winkle."

The "molly" part is just where they have a VERY odd effect just saying "molly" at varying speeds very close together, and they speed it up and slow it down a few times. I do not know who Molly is.

This is another example of a Ween song that starts again after you think it is over.

This song is © 1991 by Ween, Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp/Ver Music/Browndog Music/BMI.

The Pod
Next song on this album: Can U Taste the Waste?
CST Approved

Slang for MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) in powder form. Most definitely not 100% pure, but usually somewhat close.

Much harder to come by than the standard pressed ecstasy pills, and almost always of a higher quality. The term comes from 'molecule', meaning there are (supposed to be) no other by-products or chemicals added.

Mol"ly (?), n. Zool.

Same as Mollemoke.

 

© Webster 1913.


Mol"ly, n.

A pet or colloquial name for Mary.

Molly cottontail. Zool. See Cottontail. -- Molly Maguire (m&adot;*gw&imac;r"); pl. Molly Maguires (-gw&imac;rz). (a) A member of a secret association formed among the tenantry in Ireland about 1843, principally for the purpose of intimidating law officers and preventing the service of legal writs. Its members disguised themselves in the dress of women. (b) A member of a similar association of Irishmen organized in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania, about 1854, for the purpose of intimidating employers and officers of the law, and for avenging themselves by murder on persons obnoxious to them. The society was broken up by criminal prosecutions in 1876.

 

© Webster 1913.

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