Joke on Liverpudlian speechways

[Jonathan Lighter]

Without committing myself on that question, I'll bet there are speakers who regard "twit" and "twat" as mere variants of one another, vulgar or not.

  JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Joke on Liverpudlian speechways
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This prime minister who referred to one of his subordinates as a
"twat," was he, perhaps, an upper-class twit, to coin a phrase?

-Wilson

On 10/26/06, Chris F Waigl wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Chris F Waigl
> Subject: Re: Joke on Liverpudlian speechways
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > Yeah, flapping ! And "Worral" is a surname in the Liverpool area ! I'm still laughing !
> >
> > BTW, are the Brits more (or less) sexist than we are because they so often apply the word "c*** " to pests and fools of either sex ?
> >
> This is a discussion I've been having with a number of Brits lately.
>
> My own impression is that the sex-unspecific use of "cunt" is less
> sexist than applying it to women only. Which is of course a totally
> unsuitable measure of the respective sexism of Brits and Americans in
> general. Be that as it may, "cunt" is extremely common here in England,
> just a few degrees above the equally sex-unspecific "wanker".
>
> But then, I've also met a (sexist) Brit who was genuinely surprised that
> some might wish to apply "twat" to a woman. For him, this was for men
> only. (The prime minister is fabled to have called one of his male
> cabinet ministers a twat. I have it from a good source, but haven't been
> able to pin down the cite.)
>
> As for flapping, there's lots of it in Irish English, too.
>
> Chris
>
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