And they call it "Tom Swiftie" because... one for the MOMH

[Pigwidgeon]

Amanda: <<<Gives a whole new meaning to "Do not go gently into that 
good night," don't it?>>>

Wotan: <<<Shakespeare???? In which case I offer you -

     "You were conducted to a gentle bath"   (Coriolanus)>>>

Amy: <<<"Do not go gentle" is by Dylan Thomas (Welsh).  So both of 
these writers are familiar with the double meaning, unless it's very 
new slang.  Sounds like the basis of a PhD dissertation to me.  
Imagery of maggots in British poetry.>>>


>From the OED

Defn: A maggot, the larva of the flesh-fly or bluebottle, employed as 
bait by anglers. (Cf. A. 5.) 

Quotes:
1578 LYTE Dodoens VI. lxviii. 746 A white worme lyke a gentill. 
1594 PLAT Jewell-ho. III. 12 White and glib worms, which the anglers 
call Gentils. 
1688 R. HOLME Armoury II. 193/1 The Cloudy, or Blackish Fly..proceed 
from Maggots, or Gentills, that breed of Putrified Flesh. 
1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece II. ii. 336 Gentles are a very good Bait. 
1851 D. JERROLD St. Giles xxiv. 251 As alive and wriggling as an 
angler's box of gentles. 
1894 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 426/2 A gentle is placed on the hook.

A.5. (also from defn of gentle): Not harsh or irritating to the 
touch; soft, tender; yielding to pressure, pliant, supple. Obs.



Simon