Twat

Historical usage

Robert Browning famously misused the term in his 1841 poem "Pippa Passes", believing it was an item of nun's clothing:

Then owls and bats Cowls and twats Monks and nuns in a cloister's moods Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry

Its meaning was in reality the same then as now, Browning's misconception probably arose from a line in a 1660 satirical poem, Vanity of Vanities:

They talk't of his having a Cardinalls Hat They'd send him as soon an Old Nuns Twat

Another mistaken (or perhaps dialectal) use was in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1870 science fiction novel The Coming Race, in an apparent satire on Darwin:

Among the pithy sayings which, according to tradition, the philosopher bequeathed to posterity in rhythmical form and sententious brevity, this is notably recorded: "Humble yourselves, my descendants; the father of your race was a 'twat' (tadpole): exalt yourselves, my descendants, for it was the same Divine Thought which created your father that develops itself in exalting you."

It is commonly thought that a "twat" is a noun to describe a pregnant goldfish. However a goldfish cannot be impregnated and this definition of the word has never appeared in a respectable dictionary.

In 1892, the linguist Joseph Wright included the word in his Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill with the definition pudendum fem.. In the Survey of English Dialects, the word was recorded at several sites as the term for a cow's vulva.

Modern usage

Although sometimes used as a reference to the female genitalia (a usage that predominates for the word in North American English), the word twat is more often used in various other ways:

As a derogatory insult, a pejorative meaning a fool, a stronger alternative to the word twit – 'He can be a complete twat' (frequent in British and Commonwealth English, and not unheard of in North America)

Informally as a verb meaning to hit someone (a British usage)

In August 2008, the publisher of a children's book, My Sister Jodie by Jacqueline Wilson, decided, after receiving three complaints, in future editions of the novel to reprint the word twat as twit so as not to offend readers or their parents.

In a radio interview on 29 July 2009, the leader of the British Conservative Party, David Cameron apologized for any offence caused after he used the word twat on live radio during a breakfast radio show interview on Absolute Radio:

The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it – too many twits might make a twat.

He attempted to play down the incident, and added: "I was doing a radio interview and I'm sure that people will understand that."

UK punk poet John Cooper Clarke included the poem "Twat" on his 1979 album Walking Back to Happiness. It has been described, by Nick Duerden of The Independent, as "memorable".

In his book Filthy English, linguist Peter Silverton asks "Can you distinguish an utter twat from a complete prick? I think you can. An utter twat knows not what he or she does. A complete prick does."

Sensitivity

For the purposes of film certification, usage of the word is not considered as serious as many other swear words. It is listed by the British Board of Film Classification as an example of "moderate language" for the 12 certificate. However, the film Kes has been certified PG in the United Kingdom, meaning: "All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for young children. Should not disturb children aged 8 years or over", despite more than one instance of the word.

It also is not on the list of the Seven dirty words made famous by George Carlin in his 1972 monologue "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", perhaps because the word is much less common in North America than in Britain.

Unlike many other swear words, it is included in Google's auto-complete function.