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You mean it's double-dutch? joanna ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Collett" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 8:36 AM Subject: Re: For Robin Hamilton (1) > Tittle-tattle doesn't appear to be connected to tittle, it is > reduplication of tattle - to > babble - from Medieval Dutch tatelen. > > Roger > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Roger Collett" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 8:22 AM > Subject: Re: For Robin Hamilton (1) > > >> As far as I understand it, the tittle is not strictly a diacritical mark >> in that it doesn't >> modify the sound of the letter beneath. It was first used in Latin >> manuscripts in the >> ??eleventh?? century to distinguish the letter 'j' from strokes of >> surrounding letters and has >> subsequently appeared on the derivative 'i' in English. >> >> But, of course, Ask the Profs, >> >> Roger >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]> >> To: <[log in to unmask]> >> Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 2:49 AM >> Subject: Re: For Robin Hamilton (1) >> >> >>> And when the profs chime in, maybe they can tell us when the tittle >>> began to cap the i and >>> whose doing it was. It's our only diacritical. >>> >>> At 07:02 PM 12/30/2005, you wrote: >>>>Has this anything to do with "tittle-tattle"? >>>> >>>>Roger >>>> >>>>I suspect it does, Roger, in that it would work like this: a 'tittle' is >>>>a >>>>small thing, whereas 'tattle' as in 'tatler' denotes talk, gossip, etc, >>>>so >>>>'tittle-tattle' is a lot of yak about not very much. And of course the >>>>words >>>>link in sound. >>>> >>>>this is all guesswork on my part, as I feel far too lazy to research it, >>>>so >>>>waiting for the Profs. >>>> >>>>Best >>>> >>>>Dave >>>> >>>> >>>>----- Original Message ----- >>>>From: "Roger Day" <[log in to unmask]> >>>>To: <[log in to unmask]> >>>>Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 3:09 PM >>>>Subject: Re: For Robin Hamilton (1) >>>> >>>> >>>>Has this anything to do with "tittle-tattle"? >>>> >>>>Roger >>>>On 12/30/05, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>>> > Thanks Dave 'tittle'confirmed in my OED also tittling which has a >>>>charm >>>> > P tittling P >>>> > >>>> > -----Original Message----- >>>> > From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry >>>> > and >>>> > poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David >>>> > Bircumshaw >>>> > Sent: 30 December 2005 14:13 >>>> > To: [log in to unmask] >>>> > Subject: For Robin Hamilton (1) >>>> > >>>> > Some disjecta membra that might interest Monsieur Le Rodent: >>>> > >>>> > 1) Daylight robbery. I came across this the other day: one assumes >>>> > that >>>>the >>>> > phrase means something blatantly obvious and wrong being done in the >>>> > sight >>>> > others, which is its usage, but its origin is quite different. It >>>> > comes >>>>from >>>> > the Window Tax in 17th century England, when, of course, people >>>> > bricked up >>>> > their windows to avoid the financial toll. Hence, it was not >>>> > 'DAYlight >>>> > robbery', as we say it, but rather: 'daylight: robbery'. >>>> > >>>> > 2) 'ghetto' comes from the Italian for 'foundry'. This was because >>>> > there >>>>was >>>> > an island foundry in Venice which, in the early 16th century, became >>>> > the >>>> > first formalised 'ghetto' for Jews. That was the beginning of the >>>> > utter >>>> > horrors (btw I can't, in this respect, recommend enough the late W.G. >>>> > Sebald's great novel 'Austerlitz') >>>> > >>>> > 3) The word for the little dot over a lower-case i is apparently a >>>>'tittle'. >>>> > I haven't investigated the accuracy of this but I hope it's true. >>>> > >>>> > Best >>>> > >>>> > Dave >>>> > >>>> >>>> >>>>-- >>>>http://www.badstep.net/ >>>>http://www.cb1poetry.org.uk/ >>> -- >>> This email has been verified as Virus free >>> Virus Protection and more available at http://www.plus.net >> -- >> This email has been verified as Virus free >> Virus Protection and more available at http://www.plus.net