Talk:tittynope

RFV discussion: January 2022
I've added one cite from some self-published nonsense. Another potential cite can be found here:

I personally don't think this one should count.

Apart from that I'm just getting pages and pages of previewless Google Books hits (why does it do this?). Seems to be another one of those funni "look at this quirky word" words. &mdash; Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 01:22, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Cited. Btw, I don't think it's right to qualify that source as self-published nonsense. The editor has a Wikipedia article so apparently is notable, and another edition of the same book was published by Terrapin Press which, although small, seems like a reasonable publisher; the ebook version seems to have the less reputable publisher. 70.172.194.25 03:49, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I've missed that, sorry. Thanks for citing. I want to add however that none of the provided cites convey the meaning of "crumbs left on the side of a plate'". I propose changing the definition to . &mdash; Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 03:54, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree with that modification. 70.172.194.25 03:57, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * What do you think about labeling it en? &mdash; Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 04:00, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Seems reasonable given how hard it is to find actual uses. 70.172.194.25 04:12, 12 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Despite appearances, this word is old; it appears in EDD as Yorkshire dialect, defined as "A small quantity of anything left over, esp. a small bundle of corn in gleaning". No cites are given, though. And I can't find any more. Perhaps it was spelt differently. This, that and the other (talk) 03:26, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Etymologically, I guess the first part is related to . The second part is less clear.
 * Given that the EDD says "cf. tittymouse", which can both mean titmouse and a small amount, in the definition for "tittynope", perhaps the "nope" suffix is from nope: "bird of the titmouse (Parus) family". Then again, East Anglian "noppet" and the word "nop" (esp. sense 4) on the same page are semantically closer, but I feel like the connection is less clear. 70.172.194.25 04:40, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Actually, even the first part is not certain. It could alternatively be from . This is what most fluff sites describing the word claim (without clarifying the latter part of the word). However, this explanation does seem less likely in light of the EDD's comparison with the synonymous word "tittymouse" (which has an alternate meaning of, and seems almost certain to be a variant of, ). 70.172.194.25 05:40, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * It could even be : there are a a number of words in English associated with small things that have short /ɪ/: little, bit, flit, itty-bitty, tit, tittle, blip, nip, sip, tip, yip, etc. Chuck Entz (talk) 06:45, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Good point, and that's an interesting phenomenon. I didn't see this until after taking a stab at writing the etymology, unfortunately. I'm still curious if there are any better candidates for the second component of the word than the passerine sense of nope (which I only proposed since it fits the analogy with titty-mouse; it doesn't relate semantically unless you posit that the derivation referred to a quantity of cereal fit for such a bird, or the like). 70.172.194.25 06:55, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

It turns out that "tit-nope" is attested in Lancashire dialect, meaning the blue tit. I think this just about confirms that the terms are bird-related etymologically. What else are the chances that the two similar words for "a small amount remaining" would both happen to correspond to bird names? 70.172.194.25 10:01, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

RFV-passed. &mdash; Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 03:56, 22 January 2022 (UTC)


 * Coming back to this, I now think the Griffith (2021) citation isn't a great example of use as it's from a work that goes out of its way to utilize unusual words. I've added an undeniable use-quotation to the Citations page to make up for this, although I don't think it's quite as good at showing the word's meaning. 70.172.194.25 19:42, 4 February 2023 (UTC)