"twit"

[Kathleen E. Miller]

At 12:26 PM 11/29/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Is there any reason to suppose that "[silly] twit" has any etymological
>relationship to the verb "twit" = "tease" (etc.)?
>
>My OED is apparently uncertain about the meaning of "twit" (sb1: 2),
>recorded as "silly ... twit" from 1719 and 1896. Judging from the citations
>as they stand, this could easily be continuous with the 20th-century use.
>
>One obvious speculation would place "twit" on the spectrum which also
>includes "twitchet" and "twat", with all three having the same one-word
>gloss. Relatively sparse printed record would be expected.
>
>-- Doug Wilson



Several of the books I checked did say it was a blend of twerp and twat
(Partridge for example.) And Safire brazenly and boldly had that in the
column. ;-)  I told him, he writes for a paper that won't allow the word
butt in its pages, but he thought he'd give it a shot anyway. Of course the
editors were immediately "in a twit" about twat.


Kathleen E. Miller
Research Assistant to William Safire
The New York Times.