i told ils what twat means, so,

[nickytwotimes]

why did fil say it several times today in front of 4 yr old ds1?

fucking twat

But it means pregnant fish.

no it means vagina. Prat supposedly means pregnant fish.

yep, means fanny.
ds1 going around yelling it all flipping day.

What a twatter! I have had to tell my FIL off a couple of times..in their house swearing is nothing. But tis not ok in mine!

Except when the DCs are in bed and then I am like a fishwife.

oh, aye, swearing fine but not in front of dcs.

My DD (2) went round the shops today shouting "I am a willy, I am a willy!"

Don't know what made her think that mind.

Once would have got him the 'evil eye'.
Second would have got him a few sharp words.
Third would have got him the front door.

Your FIL said 'twat' in your house? Nobbo

the irony is he professes to hate swearing.

he is a fucking nobbo though, fofr so many reasons.

what did your dh say when he said that?

he was agog

Oh god, my MIL calls FIL a twat all the time but she thinks it's an innocent mix of twit and prat. DH, BIL and I always snigger when she says it. Never thought of the consequences of DD picking up on it though. Now is the time to educate her.

same in this family, Mad.

Where I come from, twat has always been along the same lines as twit or ninny - a really mild insult.

We even have a placename Twatt.

But as more and more people move here from other areas it is becoming more of a word that people shoudn't say.

It's funny how language use can be so different in different parts of the same country.

OMG, I think I need some serious educating here...I use twat in that innocent way, quite a lot!!!

There's more to it?????? Please please tell me there's not.

following on from the other thread... where I grew up twat really wasnt a bad word, up here it is.

That said if you asked them not to yse it, then I would be fucked off.

Jeezy - I'm the same; I've always thought of twat as being quite mild, almost affectionate. More of a fool than an absolute evil bastard, IYSWIM.

It wasn't until I called DH a twat that I worked out most people see it in the same terms as cunt or something like that. It was an education :o.

I thought it was sort of twit and pratt combination. Although I don't go round saying it much

twat is not good in front of a 4 year old though

when I was a naive teenager, I used to call my sister a dildo quite often at the dinner table.

We all did (there were 3 of us girls)- I thought it meant something along the lines of a twit or a plonker. I was so embarrassed when my mum asked us to stop and why.

May be your FIL doesn't get it's meaning? (hopeful emoticon)

xposts with your granny!!!!

According to Wikipedia:

Modern usage
Although sometimes used as a reference to the female genitalia, the word twat is more often used in various other ways:

* As a derogatory insult, a pejorative meaning a fool, synonymous with the word twit - 'You are a real twat and a half' (often used in the UK)[3]
* To hit something (or someone) hard or violently - 'Let's get out there and twat it!'[4]

So it doesn't HAVE to mean something offensive - unless you choose it to.

According to OED
twat(twat)

twat/noun
vulgar slang a woman's genitals.

verb
[with object] British informal
hit or punch (someone).

Origin:
mid 17th century: of unknown origin

I am not denying it means that - but it is also a term that is inoffensive alongside twit/fool etc.

That is how I mean it when I say it, and how it has always been meant here until we had a large influx of incomers over the last 30 or 40 years.

It was also a common surname at one time, but it has pretty much died out.