Title : Tittle-tattle.
link : Tittle-tattle.
Tittle-tattle.
Couple in front of me on flight refused to wear masks.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) March 26, 2022
They were tuned to “Tucker” the whole time.
It had never crossed my mind, in 18 years of blogging, to use the compound word "tittle-tattle." I've occasionally used the word "tattle." For example, in 2007, I wrote "Who decided on this occasion to tattle on a few of the words that were spoken at a closed-door meeting?" (John McCain had yelled "Fuck you!" at another Senator.)
But it was not until just this moment, when I read Chris Cillizza's twitter-tweet, that I ever felt like writing "tittle-tattle." What is achieved through the compounding of a word with another similar sound? I just wrote "twitter-tweet" to get the feel for what's going on with that sort of thing.
See? What's that? "Chit chat"? Why not just say "chat"? It's a little childish. I'm thinking "doggy woggy" and "pussy wussy." But don't say "fuzzy wuzzy" — that's racist. Ah, maybe don't say "doggy woggy" or "pussy wussy" either. Oh, but you only do that when you're talking to the baby? This is how we get racist babies!
Anyway, I'm driven to the OED to find out how deep are the historical roots of "tittle-tattle." Is that some modern chitchattiness? No. It's old:
A. n. 1.
a. Idle talk or chatter; esp. casual conversation or gossip about other people and their lives, typically when characterized as trivial, involving details that are unsubstantiated by evidence, or likely to result in the spreading of rumours.In quot. a1529 perhaps used adverbially.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. B.iv I played with him tyttel tattyll And fed him with my spattyl with his byll betwene my lippes....1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V iv. i. 71 I warrant you, if you looke into the warres of the Romanes, You shall finde no tittle tattle, nor bible bable there.1667 S. Pepys Diary 28 June (1974) VIII. 303 After a great deal of tittle-tattle with this honest man,..we to bed.1755 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 419/1 Nor bear a part in prittle-prattle Of rumour-loving tittle-tattle....
Shakespeare paired "tittle-tattle" with "bibble-babble," and Gentlemen's Mag. paired "tittle-tattle" with "prittle-prattle." So there's a writing tip for you: When you do the cute duplication, do another one right away. Then the world knows you really mean it.
b. An unreliable tale or rumour; a piece of gossip; a topic of idle chatter....
1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations 47 Every man devising one tittletattle or other, as his own vaine heade imagines....c. A casual conversation about other people, events, etc., typically personal or private in nature and characterized as trivial and involving details unsubstantiated by evidence; an instance of idle chatter or gossiping.Before the mid 20th century always used disapprovingly, but subsequent use is typically more positive; cf. goss n.1 Additions a.
?c1640 W. Rowley et al. Witch of Edmonton (1658) i. ii. 10 Why Girls? what, Huswives, will you spend all your forenoon in tittle-tattles?...
Imagine yourself riding on a plane and some CNN man is craning to snoop through the crack between the seats and he sees you're not watching CNN but Fox. And now he feels righteously justified to fire up Twitter and tell the world that you were not wearing a mask. It's so important because it bolsters existing prejudices: Mask resisters are right wing! This crack snooping and tittle tattling is so worthwhile.
By the way, was there really a Tucker-watching couple — a Tucker-fucker couple-wupple — that "refused to wear masks"? Were they told that had to and said no and got away with that? Or were they just in the middle of eating/drinking? Were they sneakily pulling the mask down to the point where the nostrils escape from confinement? And were they watching Tucker "the whole time"? How long was that flight? More than an hour? Fact check please. I'm suspicious of everything.
Couple in front of me on flight refused to wear masks.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) March 26, 2022
They were tuned to “Tucker” the whole time.
It had never crossed my mind, in 18 years of blogging, to use the compound word "tittle-tattle." I've occasionally used the word "tattle." For example, in 2007, I wrote "Who decided on this occasion to tattle on a few of the words that were spoken at a closed-door meeting?" (John McCain had yelled "Fuck you!" at another Senator.)
But it was not until just this moment, when I read Chris Cillizza's twitter-tweet, that I ever felt like writing "tittle-tattle." What is achieved through the compounding of a word with another similar sound? I just wrote "twitter-tweet" to get the feel for what's going on with that sort of thing.
See? What's that? "Chit chat"? Why not just say "chat"? It's a little childish. I'm thinking "doggy woggy" and "pussy wussy." But don't say "fuzzy wuzzy" — that's racist. Ah, maybe don't say "doggy woggy" or "pussy wussy" either. Oh, but you only do that when you're talking to the baby? This is how we get racist babies!
Anyway, I'm driven to the OED to find out how deep are the historical roots of "tittle-tattle." Is that some modern chitchattiness? No. It's old:
A. n. 1.
a. Idle talk or chatter; esp. casual conversation or gossip about other people and their lives, typically when characterized as trivial, involving details that are unsubstantiated by evidence, or likely to result in the spreading of rumours.In quot. a1529 perhaps used adverbially.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. B.iv I played with him tyttel tattyll And fed him with my spattyl with his byll betwene my lippes....1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V iv. i. 71 I warrant you, if you looke into the warres of the Romanes, You shall finde no tittle tattle, nor bible bable there.1667 S. Pepys Diary 28 June (1974) VIII. 303 After a great deal of tittle-tattle with this honest man,..we to bed.1755 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 419/1 Nor bear a part in prittle-prattle Of rumour-loving tittle-tattle....
Shakespeare paired "tittle-tattle" with "bibble-babble," and Gentlemen's Mag. paired "tittle-tattle" with "prittle-prattle." So there's a writing tip for you: When you do the cute duplication, do another one right away. Then the world knows you really mean it.
b. An unreliable tale or rumour; a piece of gossip; a topic of idle chatter....
1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations 47 Every man devising one tittletattle or other, as his own vaine heade imagines....c. A casual conversation about other people, events, etc., typically personal or private in nature and characterized as trivial and involving details unsubstantiated by evidence; an instance of idle chatter or gossiping.Before the mid 20th century always used disapprovingly, but subsequent use is typically more positive; cf. goss n.1 Additions a.
?c1640 W. Rowley et al. Witch of Edmonton (1658) i. ii. 10 Why Girls? what, Huswives, will you spend all your forenoon in tittle-tattles?...
Imagine yourself riding on a plane and some CNN man is craning to snoop through the crack between the seats and he sees you're not watching CNN but Fox. And now he feels righteously justified to fire up Twitter and tell the world that you were not wearing a mask. It's so important because it bolsters existing prejudices: Mask resisters are right wing! This crack snooping and tittle tattling is so worthwhile.
By the way, was there really a Tucker-watching couple — a Tucker-fucker couple-wupple — that "refused to wear masks"? Were they told that had to and said no and got away with that? Or were they just in the middle of eating/drinking? Were they sneakily pulling the mask down to the point where the nostrils escape from confinement? And were they watching Tucker "the whole time"? How long was that flight? More than an hour? Fact check please. I'm suspicious of everything.
Thus articles Tittle-tattle.
You now read the article Tittle-tattle. with the link address https://welcometoamerican.blogspot.com/2022/03/tittle-tattle.html
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