"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Twee


Writer's write for the love of language.  Well, I did anyway.  I keep seeing a word popping up I was unfamiliar with.  You know, one of those au courant words, like bespoke - overused and a little tiresome.  Anyway, I looked up twee.  I was even shocked it was in my tattered 1970's version of Webster's, (notice the twee little flowers I found pressed in my dictionary).

Twee, an adjective, means childish, clever, dainty, elegant, cute or sweet. Yet, I am seeing it used not only as an adjective, but as a proper noun and even plural.  

Twees, it seems, like thrift store cardigans, cats, Ira Glass of NPR fame.  Portlandia is uber twee, and how about the greatest post war existentialist, Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame.  

Twees are diarists and tend to form attachments to their beloved records, books and even movies.  An iconic band, Neutral Milk Hotel is twee and Zooey Deschanel is supposedly the Oprah of Twee.  So, I surmise Twees are the new nerds.  Guess we are all a little Twee.

It all leaves me scratching my head. Twee - tweeer - tweeest? Twee - twang - twung? 
My summation - huh?

10 comments:

Terra said...

I note down new words too, and twee is delightful. Collecting words kind of gives me the collywobbles, ha ha.

La Table De Nana said...

Never even knew:)

I have flowers pressed in many books too:) Even with flower presses!

jerilanders said...

Well, I am certainly scratching MY head! Now, tell me, DONNA BAKER... author of the book?

donna baker said...

A graduation gift from many moons ago. Besides reading encyclopedias for fun growing up, I also read the dictionary. Never remembered twee, though I did know how the spell the longest word in the dictionary.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the word and meaning of it.

RachelD said...

Trying to niche Sylvia Plath into that category---failing.

And to every need, etc., there's an online exclamation, "Squeee!", specifically for things which qualify for the TWEE category.

Somehow, for me, with my Fifties raising, the image of Bonnie Braids Tracy always floats through my mind, with her Betty Boop lipstick, Keane eyes and Baby-Bozo hair.

r

donna baker said...

Oh Rachel, I'm woefully (perhaps happily) behind on any computer speak. I thought LOL meant lots of love and btw meant between us. Computereze escapes me. I made that up.

helen tilston said...

Hello Donna
An interesting word. Now I shall be watching for it.
I am your more recent follower We have mutual friends

Helen

donna baker said...

Dear Helen, I recognize your name, but unlike you, I can never remember where I find people and blogs. I guess I need to write down where I found the blog. Nice to meet you and thank you for taking the time to comment.

Amanda Summer said...

It was fascinating to learn the definition of twee and even more fascinating to see your very own personalized dictionary!