Git (slang)

Git is mild[1] profanity with origins in British English for a silly, incompetent, stupid, annoying, senile elderly or childish person.[2] It is usually an insult, more severe than twit or idiot but less severe than wanker, arsehole or twat.[1][3][4]

The word git first appeared in print in 1946, but is undoubtedly older. It is originally an alteration of the word get, dating back to the 14th century. A shortening of beget[5], get insinuates that the recipient is someone's misbegotten offspring and therefore a bastard.[6] In parts of northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland get is still used in preference to git.

The word has been ruled by the Speaker of the House of Commons to be unparliamentary language.[7][8]

The word was used self-deprecatingly by Linus Torvalds in naming the git source control package.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b "TV's most offensive words". The Guardian. Monday 21 November 2005 08.26. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/nov/21/broadcasting.uknews. 
  2. ^ Ayto, John; Simpson, John (April 28, 2005), The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198610521, http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Dictionary-Modern-Paperback-Reference/dp/0198610521 
  3. ^ Geoffrey Hughes (2006), An encyclopedia of swearing: the social history of oaths, profanity, foul language, and ethnic slurs in the English-speaking world, p. 200, ISBN 9780765612311, http://books.google.com/?id=tN7WAAAAMAAJ 
  4. ^ Tony McEnery (2006), Swearing in English: bad language, purity and power from 1586 to the present, p. 30, ISBN 9780415258371, http://books.google.com/?id=xWrDyKkLL6QC&pg=PA120 
  5. ^ Grose, Francis (1785), Classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue, S. Hooper, 
  6. ^ Harper, Douglas. "git". Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=git. 
  7. ^ Geoffrey Hughes (2006), An encyclopedia of swearing: the social history of oaths, profanity, foul language, and ethnic slurs in the English-speaking world, p. 477, ISBN 9780765612311, http://books.google.com/?id=tN7WAAAAMAAJ 
  8. ^ M. Hunt, Alison Maloney (1999), Joy of Swearing, ISBN 9781843171621, http://books.google.com/?id=awERFb65TuwC 
  9. ^ GitFaq: Why the 'git' name?.
  10. ^ "After controversy, Torvalds begins work on git", InfoWorld, 2005-04-19, ISSN 0199-6649, http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/19/HNtorvaldswork_1.html, retrieved 2008-02-20.