When Twitter first “happened,” I was unimpressed. So much so that, in my curmudgeonly way, I announced that I would not use twitter.
And now there’s Twitter. It’s a horrible name, but it probably plays better with younger folks (the type of people who rarely use the word “folks”). I heard of Twitter, but didn’t have the slightest clue what it was. Kevin O’Keefe has cleared this up for me. I feel so on top of technology today.
I was so above it all. And I was wrong, as soon became obvious.
When first I was told of twitter, I scoffed. Obviously, it was for people whose thoughts fit within 140 characters. I meant that in a pejorative way. You wouldn’t find me on twitter. That was a few thousand twits ago.
Yet, there has been one thing I’ve steadfastly refused to do. I would not call a twit a tweet. In the beginning, there was a Twitter language craze, where people were called tweeple. I was not going to succumb to this infantile idiocy. If they wanted the thing you do on Twitter to be called “tweets,” they should have named it Tweeter. They didn’t.
So I called them twits, and have ever since. It’s been kinda funny as people have gone through the effort of leaving comments for no better purpose than to teach me that I was using the wrong word. Some even informed me they could not bear to read my posts because of the word “twit,” and would never do so again. “Hah,” they said. “Hah,” I replied.
Yesterday, I was having an email discussion with an over-educated journalist who, in the course of many other issues, made a point to me:
I don’t think you’re ever going to win that battle on tweet/twit by the way. Ship has sailed, so you just look more and more out of touch as the years go by…
My initial reaction was what one might expect. So what? Who cares? But his words sunk in. The joke was funnier in the beginning, when the question of whether Twitter was for real or not was still on the table. Now that it’s well past its infancy, is the joke still funny? Is it still a joke, or is the joke itself something that makes me “look more and more out of touch”?
To the extent it impairs a reading of my posts here, by distracting the reader and, for those unfamiliar with my joking ways or inclined to believe that I’m a total asshole, confirms their belief that any view that doesn’t confirm theirs can be immediately dismissed, perhaps my steadfast use of “twit” is a poor choice.
Sure, sticking with twit all these years has been fun, like an inside joke should be, but the problem with inside jokes is that they’re inside. Too many readers won’t get it, and will assume that I am that out of touch. If there is any hope of conveying an idea that may plant a seed in someone’s head, then doing something to relieve them of the burden of thinking is counterproductive.
I decided that my persistence in using the word “twit” in lieu of the offensive “tweet” has become counterproductive.
The decision pains me. I feel like a quitter, and I am no quitter. But I am also not that much of a moron that I can’t see the point of letting go. For those of you who understand what I’m trying to say, why I’m doing what I’m doing, please do me the courtesy of using twit whenever it suits you, and read “twit” on these pages when the actual letters spell out something else. If you do, I will be deeply appreciative.
As for me, I will henceforth use the word tweet. Every time I do, I will shed a tear, knowing that I have given up. But the time has come to let it go.
Update: The reaction to my reluctant change has been surprising. Between here, twitter and some harshly worded emails, it appears that many people not only prefer that I continue to use twit, but would be fairly disappointed in me for caving in to popular pressure.
One person pointed out, however, that having posted this, and made a commitment even if reflects a poor choice, it’s hard to go back.
You’d be a real doofus to pivot again.
Indeed, I would. Then again, I’ve been called far, far worse, and deserved it. So you know what? I’m pivoting again, the twit lives and I am a doofus. THE TWIT LIVES!
NO. Every time you write “twit”, I smile. DO NOT MICROAGGRESSION US
It doesn’t make you look out of touch, just curmudgeonly (in a rather charming way). Switching over would be pretty [ableist slur].
Agreed. This is bulltwit. Keep doing the Lord’s work, SHG.
…The Universe has just become a little darker.
On the other hand, you couldn’t pay me to have an account on there. I stand with your original assesment.
I also thought I would not twit. A few months ago I signed up. Somehow, during my first time on Twitter, my account was suspended. I went thru the loops to reengage but to no avail. I am still a twit who can not tweet.
That requires skill. I bow to you.
You could pay me to be on Twitter, but you would have to pay me a lot.
I’ll miss your tweaking the Twitterati about their twits.
I can’t say for sure that I won’t be doing some tweaking here and there. Just using popular infantile language. Oh crap, did I just write that?
I support the continued use of twit. If you cave on “twit,” what else will you cave on?
So you aren’t in favor of my newest idea, Tummy-Rub Tuesdays?
Great. Just what we need: a tummy-rubbing twit giving up and joining the tweeters.
Well, this may be due to me not having started reading your blog until after 2010 happened, but I thought you were just a hardcore Futurama fan re: the use of Twits vs. Tweets.
I like “twit.” And though it shames (and dates) me to admit it, I once adored Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Not familiar with this song, however. Was he channeling his father?
Exactly. It’s always made me laugh.
I don’t know. There’s something to be said for willful childishness. Twitter will forever be bookmarked as ‘Twit’ on my Chrome bookmarks bar. And when I wish to indulge in vanity stats, I just click over to Twitter Analytics — bookmarked, of course, as ‘TwAt.’
I’m not above occasional self-lols.
Wait. Twitter has a TwAt? I never knew that.
I, too, am a big fan of wilful childishness. I have been a twatterer for a while; and I shall continue to twat to the twits that are twattish enough to follow me ie the Twitterati . . .
And now, the Slackoisie forgive all prior curmudgeonly slights, and embrace you as one of their own.
“If there is any hope of conveying an idea that may plant a seed in someone’s head, then doing something to relieve them of the burden of thinking is counterproductive.”
It’s too bad this is more than 140 characters.
I will continue to call them twits, and I think you should reconsider. If someone can’t read your blog because you use the wrong vowel, they are delicate flowers and Simple Justice does not need such people mucking up the comments. Also, I have a friend who insists on calling them twats.
It’s Twitter’s website, so they get to make the rules (as you do on your site), including the nomenclature. It’s a tweet; insisting on calling it something else makes one look like a bit of a twit.
However; your site, your rules, your call.
Not exactly. They get to make the rules as to what happens on their website, but not what anyone else wants to call it. If you want to call SJ “stupid jerk-off” amongst your friends, I can’t stop you. I may have control here, but not control over what you do. So I can call it any damn thing I please.
While I appreciate your thought that it makes me “look like a bit of a twit,” others seem to disagree. And maybe I am a bit of a twit. So what?
” If you call the tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
–Abraham Lincoln
Regardless of what you call it, O Esteemed One, it remains a tweet.
Similarly, even if someone were to call this a “scintillating debate between rapier (t)wits,” it ain’t; it’s merely me assaulting a deceased equine. Therefore, I retire and leave you the field, my point — for what little it is worth — having been made.
I never liked that Lincoln quote much. That never stopped me from using it, but I never really liked it.
I don’t tweet, or twit, and have long called those who do twitheads, so I appreciate your humor. Thank you, and stand fast! 🙂
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Phew! Glad you reconsidered!
The People have spoken. Who am I to disagree?
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