[Ads-l] Twinkle toes

[Jonathan Lighter]

 Antedatings. " "A person who is quick or nimble on their feet" " OED: 1928

[1889 _S. F. Chronicle_ (Nov. 26) 3: THE DANCER...A sparkle of eyes, a
twinkle of toes.]


1895 _Windsor [Ont.] Star_  (Apr. 10) 3: Daily Sneers Reporter. - What is
the highest aim of your life, Miss Twinkletoes?

1898 _Stoughton [Wis.] Courier_ (Jan. 21) 3: "Well, dear me, Tottie
Twinkletoes!" "Well, bless my soul, if it ain't Flossie Footltes!"

1906 _Buffalo News_ (Feb. 23) 11: Vivian Vowles of the London Gaiety
Theatre. She is a real twinkle-toes."

Etc., etc.

"Quick, nimble feet": OED 1919

1910 _Kansas City Times_ (Aug. 20) 3: MUSIC IN HER TWINKLE TOES  Anna
Pavlowa, the Dancer, Is to Show America Visual Opera.

As for "effeminate male":

1980 Shirley Gordon _Me and the Bad Guys_ (N.Y.: Harper) 22: "Hey
Twinkletoes!" Too-Tall Tommy, the captain of our basketball team waves at
me like he has a girl's hanky in his hand.

JL

On Tue, Sep 3, 2024 at 6:35 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> The OED updates for June 2024 included "twinkle toes", meaning either the
> literal toes of a dancer, etc., or referring to that dancer, etc.  Also
> included is "ironically of a clumsy or ponderous person".
>
> Any time I've ever heard it used in a deprecating way, I've always assumed
> it to mean something similar to the homophobic slur "fairy", alluding, I
> suppose, to gay dancers.  I'm probably influenced by Gunnery Sergeant
> Hartman, in Full Metal Jacket, who asked the platoon "Who's the slimy
> little communist-shit, twinkle-toed cocksucker down here who just signed
> his own death warrant?"
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHxf17yJsKs&t=98s
>
>
>
> 1983 Ed McClanahan _The Natural Man_ p 82
>
> Esther Williams was okay, but those twinkle-toed little dudes with pointy
> shoes and walking sticks gave him the willies.
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/naturalman0000unse_m4g5/page/82/mode/1up?q=%22twinkle+toed%22
>
>
>
>
> 1998 Spin Aug 141/2
>
> These delusions are taken to barfable extremes here by metallic
> dungeonmasters Seasons of the Wolf and Morphine Angel, both of whom flex
> too much Neanderthal muscle to make sense in such twinkle-toed company.
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PeGUjNqTnGcC/page/n152/mode/1up?q=%22twinkle+toed%22
>
>
>
>
> 1999 Janet Lowe _Ted Turner Speaks_ p. 149
>
> "I have heard that you are a little twinkle-toed TV announcer," Turner
> shot back [Ted Turner to Dick Cavett]
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/tedturnerspeaksi00turn/page/146/mode/1up?q=%22twinkle+toed%22
>
>
>
> 2000 PlayStationPro #46 Apr 40/2
>
> What twinkle-toed son of a heathen managed to take the 'a' out of action
> and place it on the beginning of 'rse'?
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/playstation-pro-46/page/n39/mode/1up?q=%22twinkle+toed%22
>
>
>
>
> 2014 A. G. Van Slyke _Digging Up Bones_  217
>
> Somebody should write about this shit, the fucked-up pedophiles, those
> twinkle-toed rump-riders.
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/diggingupbones0000augu/page/217/mode/1up?q=%22twinkle+toed%22
>
>
>
>
> 2012 Simon Doonan _Gay Men Don't Get Fat_  p. 119
>
> When I was a teeny, tiny, twinkle-toed toddler, "gay" meant "cheery and/or
> brightly colored, as in your granny's kitchen curtains, or a
> post-hysterectomy pick-me-up bouquet of mixed blooms.
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/gaymendontgetfat0000doon_w2y3/page/119/mode/1up?q=twinkle
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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