Why this word is great
KOWTOWER — [Noun] One who kowtows; a sycophant. From kowtow (from Cantonese 叩頭 / 叩头 (kau3 tau4) or Mandarin 叩頭 (kòutóu), literally "knock head") + -er (agent noun suffix). Unlike a "flatterer" (who wields honeyed words like currency) or an "individualist" (who stands unbowed), a kowtower performs submission bodily—the bowed spine, the lowered gaze, the knees pressed to the floor. It is the courtier’s exaggerated scrape before a throne, the employee’s nervous laugh at the boss’s stale joke, the scent of boot leather on the tongue. Some kneel to survive; others forget they were ever upright.