Talk:twerp
I've always understood the word 'twerp' to mean 'a pregnant fish'. It's use as an insult following from this.
Dean Shepherd Bristol (UK)
- Is an urban legend, most common in Australia, that twerp (or twat or twit) referred originally to a pregnant (gold)fish. No basis in fact. Robert Ullmann 12:53, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
- According to the OED, it is reported to come from T.W.Earp, an Oxford graduate. SemperBlotto 13:45, 21 May 2007 (UTC) (also from Bristol)
- Don't suppose it could be related to (deprecated template usage) twp from Welsh? Equinox ◑ 22:09, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
"twerp" definition[edit]
As a child, I was told that the word "twerp" defines one who breaks wind while taking a bath...
From this day on a twerp or twit shall refer to a pregnant gold fish. Let the myth and uncertainty around this meaning stop, after all if enough people use or refer to it as such, then why can't it be?
- The point is that they don't use it that way, in normal sentences about fish. People just claim it means that; people who work with fish etc. do not use it to mean that. Equinox ◑ 03:39, 13 September 2013 (UTC)
A surname?[edit]
How about this? - Twerp seems to be a surname: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/698/was-there-really-an-actor-named-joe-twerp
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Good luck to you. Mglovesfun (talk) 23:43, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
According to...[edit]
In the novel 'Jailbird' by Kurt Vonnegut, the narrator claims the original definition to be 'one who bites the bubbles of their own farts in the bathtub'. — This comment was unsigned.
- Funny, but I'm sure he just invented that for his book. Equinox ◑ 00:03, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
What I was told 30 years ago[edit]
twerp = pregnant fish, twit = pregnant bird, nit = pregnant camel, twat = woman's genitals