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Well, I'll answer my own question. Just checked out good ol' OneLook and found this on MW:
One entry found for twee.
Main Entry: twee
Pronunciation: 'twE
Function: adjective
Etymology: baby-talk alteration of sweet
Date: 1905
chiefly British : affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint <such a theme might sound twee or corny -- Times Literary Supplement>
Now what was that prisms and prunes expression we were discussing a while back?
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Dear WW: I think perhps "precious" would be closer than "quaint"
very fastidious, overrefined, or affected, as in behavior, language, etc.
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Here's some more listed synonyms:
Synonyms
dainty mincing niminy-piminy prim
These are from a url that's too long to post and I don't know where to go to the place that shortens 'em.
Niminy-priminy? Jimminy!
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Pooh-Bah
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>... the un-Tolkien-like tweeness of JK Rowling's coinages ...
A comment on the quote, Bill, not your question.
It does seems a little unfair to JK. I do get a little bored with this kind of "tall poppy" criticism (so beloved by us Brits). I want to tell people "SHE WAS WRITING A BOOK FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN" the fact that a few grown ups cottoned on to it is by the by. My daughter read it at the age of seven when it first came out, as did most of her class. It's a very tricky book for a seven year old.
There are twee moments, it is a boarding school book, it is OK to have crumpets with Hagrid (hi AnnaS). It links back to Mallory Towers and The Chalet School all those books that were not necessarily of any great literary value but were read by children (not always with parental approval)in the distant past when I was a child.
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Dear jmh: I felt the "tweeness" to be more than a bit unfair . How could she be expected to make coinages with expertise of a master linguist?
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I love Harry Potter.
I loved The Hobbit BUT a lot of Tolkein makes my head ache.
Does this mean I can never post again?
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I've never read Harry Potter, I've never read Tolkein, and I never will.
Fantasy just holds no appeal for me anymore. Reality is just so fantastic that I'm mesmerized by it.
OK: Hit me in the head. I don't care. You do know what Dr. Johnson thought of Gulliver's Travels, don't you? And he's SuperDaddy of the Dictionary People. OK: Hit me in the head again.
Best regards,
Dub-Dub
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Dear WW: I must humbly confess I do not know what Sam Johnston said about Gulliver's Travels.
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Dear wwh,
Dr. Johnson disliked Gulliver. He disliked the concept. He spoke a great deal about it, so I couldn't begin to quote him, but in a nutshell, he implied that once Swift realized his fantastic idea, no real imagination or literary powers were required. What would it be like to be possessed by a land of miniature people or giants? In Johnson's mind the outcome was so predictable that the imagination didn't have to be overtaxed--I think it was the predictability factor that was one of his numerous complaints about Swift.
Honestly, whatever people read is fine with me. I just wouldn't want to be kicked off the board because I have a low tolerance for fantasy. And apparently Sam Johnson would have at least understood. But, then again, maybe Tolkein has more to offer than Swift. I'm just not tempted.
(Probably Johnson's comments on Swift are to be found somewhere in Boswell's Life of Johnson...)
Boswell regards, Now that's an author I look forward to reading again upon retirement!-,
Wordwind
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I'd much rather read Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" than Johnson's "Rasselas (Wrassle-Ass)"
"Critics are like eunuchs, they can tell you how, but the can't do it themselves." George Jean Nathan
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