Friday 17 April 2020

Twatt

Over on A Darkie? In the  Bushes? messrs Bungalow Bill and Mike have been having some linguistic fun. I thought you might like this:
Honest, not invent, a real place. Furthermore, it is also a surname here, so some unfortunate individuals go through life bearing the name Twatt. My dictionary tells me:
"The settlement name originates from the Old Norse þveit, meaning 'small parcel of land'. The name Twatt is similar to the common English expletive " Twat," (a vulgar word for vulva and also an insulting term meaning a weak or contemptible individual). For this reason, Twatt remains a source of amusement to people from outside the parish."
mrs ishmael

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Salford Laureate has a few words on the matter:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-aVtKEhpO0

v./

mongoose said...

And it's not just rude ones. There are some terribly silly place names. Hippies from hereabouts - and I am no longer one - titter as they pass the villages of "Tokers Green", and "Great Rollright". It is an innocent amusement.

Mke said...

The four letter words are the spice in the English language each one pronounced with a little venom. At school, I always thought Chaucer was a little risque.

mrs ishmael said...

Mr mike, you might enjoy "Holy Sh*t" by Melissa Mohr. Hugely entertaining and educational, it explores the history of swearing, both obscenities and oaths, with hair-raising societal detail. It covers Chaucer, and after chapter one, you would never again wonder what the Romans did for us.The author blurb describes her as dividing her time between writing the book and hiding it from her kids.