[Ads-l] "Twist" (Type of Dance) Not in OED

[Ben Zimmer]

I think you may have missed sense III.13.c. of "twist," defined as: "A
dance in which the body is twisted from side to side; spec. a dance of this
kind popular in the early 1960s. Also, music for such a dance." Cites go
all the way back to 1894.

On Wed, Nov 27, 2024 at 11:51 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

> The term "twist" as the name of a dance is not in OED.
>
> The earliest citation seems to be "The Twist" as the title of a song,
> originally released in 1958.  The song was written by Hank Ballard.
>
>

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