subtweet

[Joel S. Berson]

Since there was a subwoof, can a subtweet be far behind?

Joel

At 4/23/2014 11:09 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>I saw the following interaction containing the
>word "subtweet" on twitter today:
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Steve Orlando ‏@thesteveorlando
>Okay I don't know what a subtweet is
>
>Tom Spurgeon ‏@comicsreporter
>@thesteveorlando it's ridiculous that some people don't even know what
>a subtweet is
>[End excerpt]
>
>Word Spy and the ADS mailing list archive did not have "subtweet".
>However, it was listed in the Urban Dictionary and Fritinancy had a
>relevant post
>
>Subtweet
>http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2013/03/word-of-the-week-subtweet.html
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>March 25, 2013
>Word of the Week: Subtweet
>
>Subtweet: On Twitter, a tweet that refers to a person without
>including his or her Twitter handle; the online version of talking
>about someone behind his back. Compressed from “subliminal tweet.”
>[End excerpt]
>
>
>Finding the first use of "subtweet" with the appropriate sense would
>be difficult. Instead, here are some random observations.
>
>Below is a precursor message that does not use the word "subtweet",
>but does use the word subliminal:
>
>[Begin tweet]
>Mike Billeter @mikebilleter
>@kristenpitt Clearly, you were the person to whom I was referring in
>that tweet. I can't believe you figured out my subliminal message.
>6:36 PM May 19th, 2008
>[End tweet]
>
>The message below uses "subtweet" with a different meaning:
>
>[Begin tweet]
>Iain Tait @iaintait
>When you retweet (RT) something but alter it in a subversive way it
>needs to be called a subtweet (ST). Ready..?
>5:04 PM Apr 30th, 2009
>[End tweet]
>
>The message below also uses "subtweet" with a different meaning, probably:
>
>[Begin tweet]
>Claire Underwood @KingJasmine_
>@ari_nicole a subtweet is a subliminal tweet. It has a hidden meaning
>1:28 AM Dec 7th, 2009
>[End tweet]
>
>The message below fits the meaning, but refers to an unused convention
>of adding the word "subtweet" to the message:
>
>[Begin tweet]
>UrDudeLovesMyKicks @DC_KickChick
>@ebony_essence subliminal tweet...basically writing to someone without
>saying they're name...u replace their name with subtweet
>6:24 PM Dec 15th, 2009
>[End tweet]
>
>Garson
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org