If you still wishfully think that Twitter doesn't matter, here's a recent exchange on that benighted social medium between a 19 year old female tweeter and a Tory MP:
Michael Fabricant: So far, despite forecasts that #Labour would gain 200 council seats, the BBC puts them up just 58. And while the #Conservatives were forecast to lose 75 seats, they are currently level pegging. A disappointing day for the #OldLabour Party.Darcy: Not as disappointing as Burntwood since you neglected it. WEAK AND WOBBLY!Michael Fabricant: Says a complete twat who seems unaware that there is no vote this year in Burntwood! And I neglect no part of my lovely constituency. That’s why I’m loved!!Darcy: I never used any foul language towards you? That’s not very professional?
The famously blond Mr Fabricant has landed himself in a whole lot of (Twitter) trouble for using the t-word there and young Darcy has demanded satisfaction, as duellers say, waving her Twitter glove in Mr Fabricant's face.
And guess what? Yes, the BBC is right on Mr F's case.
And (another yes), believe it or not, this 'scandal' really is on the BBC News website Home page and among its headlines.
Mr. F says he thought she might be a troll for all he knew...
...[and looking at her Twitter image and the fact that she's been silent on Twitter for four years before this - from 2014 to 2018 - I can well imagine why he thought she might not be a real constituent]...
...and added that he used the t-word in the way he says he thought it was meant: 'twit' (which, I have to say, sounds plausible as far as Michael Fabricant is concerned! - even before we come to the actual context of the exchange, quoted above).
...[and looking at her Twitter image and the fact that she's been silent on Twitter for four years before this - from 2014 to 2018 - I can well imagine why he thought she might not be a real constituent]...
...and added that he used the t-word in the way he says he thought it was meant: 'twit' (which, I have to say, sounds plausible as far as Michael Fabricant is concerned! - even before we come to the actual context of the exchange, quoted above).
The BBC report is going big with Darcy's anger. It's her outrage that is leading the story. Mr Fabricant's defence only arrives in the fourth paragraph:
A teenager has demanded an apology from her MP after he called her an offensive name on Twitter.
Darcy Norgate, 19, said she was shocked when Michael Fabricant replied to her with a slang word for female genitalia.
She said he launched a "personal attack" after she questioned his commitment to Burntwood, Staffordshire.
The Lichfield MP tweeted that Ms Darcy (sic) had not said she was his constituent and he thought of the word as a synonym for "twit".
And Miss Norgate's complaints continue to dominate the article.
And to make things look worse, according to this BBC report, Mr F has declined an interview with the BBC about it.
Quite why the BBC keeps referring to Darcy Norgate as "Ms Darcy" throughout their report is anyone's guess. (Very Confederate-gentlemanly of them!) .
It later continued:
The row began when Ms Darcy (sic) responded to his comment that Labour's performance in the local elections had been disappointing".
Intriguingly for us who follow the snaky, Satanic medium of Twitter we can read the whole exchange (quoted above) and see that the dashing Mr Fabricant's main point - that the young lady was talking male genitalia (so to speak) about Burntwood, a part of his constituency - completely failed to make this sic-filled BBC report. (Mr Fabricant was correct and Miss Norgate was incorrect).
In the interests of disinterested blogging, I read this and thought "Good grief!". And, thus, I share it with you here.
I'll be watching Newssniffer to see if this hapless article is edited.
It sounds like the sort of excuse someone caught out would come up with but as it's Fabricant, I can well believe that he did think it meant twit.
ReplyDeleteIt means both:
Deletehttps://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/twat
But there is regional variation.
Er...I know it does and wasn't suggesting otherwise.
DeleteIt's funny when the BBC gets on its high horse it's "foul language". When it's a matter of their own programmes it's "strong language".
ReplyDeleteIn this case twat is of unknown origin and does indeed mean the same as twit (as well as the other more offensive definition) - particularly in the south of England where I grew up. As a child, although we used all kinds of very offensive words, I don't think I ever heard it used as a synonym for female parts. It was more or less the same as twit/idiot/fool/chump, just a bit more aggressive.
Quite. In my (Northern) neck of the woods it's also long been used (including in my school days) to mean 'a twit' (albeit a 'complete and utter twit') and I never heard it used as synonym for ladies' whatdoyoucallthems either until later in life. The idea that Michael Fabricant meant 'female genitalia' is something that the BBC should be quietly correcting young Darcy over (as it's nonsense and she needs to understand that) rather than amplifying spurious Twitter OUTRAGE over it.
DeleteThis BBC article shows how low the BBC website is sinking.
Agreed.
DeleteGrowing up on the East Midlands we kids thought of it as a more modern or less Woosterish version of twit. It was only much later when feminists started banging on about it at a London college that I was aware of any suggestion of a sexual aspect.
It was twat/twit and fanny*/King Canut in my locality . I hope that is clear enough! :)
Delete* A source of constant confusion for Americans of course.
yep saved me writing
Deleteexcept I'll add the BBC never found it offensive cos they used the word at 8pm in the classic Fawlty Towers joke.
Not half as biased as this article
ReplyDeleteThat you, Ms Darcy?
DeleteI meant I agree with Craig, it means twit to me generally.
DeleteWhen exposed as an idiot play the victim card.
ReplyDeleteIf you think this post / article is Bias Anon above, what as they say, a Twat you are!
ReplyDeletewhy is something so banal even discussed. pathetic low iq individuals
ReplyDelete