Twee
May 23, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
Has anyone else noticed a seeming explosion in the use of the word "twee" in the New York Times and the New Yorker recently?"Mates of State's exuberant indie pop is built around electric organ, drums and sweet boy-girl harmonizing, but skittering club beats keep things from getting too twee." (New York Times. Dec 29, 2006.) And just last Sunday an article in the Times referred to Pee-Wee Herman as a twee character.
This from the OED:
[f. tweet, an infantile pronunciation of sweet.]
Originally: 'sweet', dainty, chic. Now only in depreciatory use: affectedly dainty or quaint; over-nice, over-refined, precious, mawkish.
Maybe I'm just noticing because I only learned the word a few months ago, and now I'm seeing it everywhere. What other words are out there that have eluded my grasp for so long? I welcome your submissions...
Replies: 1 Comment
Maybe spellcheckers in NY have gone all 'meh'?
Allison said on May 26, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
