Thursday, July 19, 2007

Wit

WIT, n. The salt with which the American humorist spoils his intellectual cookery by leaving it out.

2007 Update: The whiplike, agile and fast-moving feature of the well-developed mind connected to the hubris. The wit is prominent in dogs who call it wag and prehensile in tree-monkeys who call it grasp.

Happy birthday to Pia. You're still much too far North.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

This must be a joke? I'm first. Gadzooks.

Anonymous said...

I can't stop laughing. I'm not exactly sure why

Most have something to do with my non-highly developed sense of wit

I'm finding your WV's amazingly hard lately. Like a test to see who can comment or something

Voices of NLD said...

Thank you :)

Nessa said...

"With" without the haytch as spoken by an American of Goddfellows decent.

Unknown said...

being too clever by half makes one a half-wit

Happy Birthday Pia!

Minka said...

Happy birthday, Pia.

Minka said...

wit,n. a sharp weapon, but more often than not a shield

TLP said...

Happy day to Pia! And many more.

Too few know the difference between wit and wisecracks.

Anonymous said...

Happy Happy Birthday Pia!!!

can't think of a better word for today! : )

Anonymous said...

Wit: sharpening tool for the tongue.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to Pia. I left a comment on her blog, but was spammed. Can't imagine why. ;)

To wit, hello Doug, been a long time.

the tree houses Wit
hangs upside down and hurls stuff
bad poll numbers stick

Rose

xo

Mo'a said...

"Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words" Dorothy Parker said that and I would not have known that had I not looked up the word wit.
Yes, I knew the meaning of the word but I wanted to be more witty in my response...you probably don't care a wit about my efforts anyway.
By the way in Icelandic the word is spelled Vit.

Minka, are your wings tired after your swim, eda er eg vitlaus, ertu entha heima a Islandi?

G said...

You may kill with kindness,
but the burial requires wit.

Happiest of birthdays to July's unwitting wit! Hope it's wonderful in every way, Pia. XOX

Sar said...

Much like a fine wine, I appreciate wit that flows with a subtly dry finish.

Happy Birthday, Pia! (And a nod to my SIS, Karma, loved your comment!)

Jamie Dawn said...

Happy B-day to PIA!!

Wit rhymes with a naughty word that starts with sh, and it rhymes with another word that can be used naughtily that starts with t.

Doug The Una said...

Zounds, Jenna!

Pia, you're welcome. Have a great day, but what's a WV?

Nessa, by which you mean a dialectic-American?

Karma, does that make a total moron about right? Here's hoping.

Minka, that was an awesome definition.

I know, TLP! The wit is in italics!
or
I know you don't but what do I?

A witstone, Neva?

Well, hi there, Rose/Dewy! And with a Haiku no less. Good to see you.

Mo'a, if you wound up with Mrs. Parker, it was a good search.

Wow, G! This is a good word for this group.

Sar, and I like mine in a screw-off.

Jamie Dawn, you mean shinelit and tobit?

Mo'a said...

Doug you will never believe what I found in my garden this morning...check it out on Leikur og List
I even bragged about you.

Tom & Icy said...

When my tail wags me, I feel so witty.

Sar said...

Uh was I just told to screw off?

Surely you meant to reference... perish the thought... screw-cap wine.

Jamie Dawn said...

I'm back for seconds!!
Two bites at the apple today.

The words I was referring to are shift & tift, minus the fs.
Must I spell these things out for you???!!!!
You really need to brush up on your naughty words vocabulary.

I feel witty, oh so witty. I feel witty and shiftty (minus the f) and bright!

Anonymous said...

Once there was a wit,
Whose blog was quite the hit,
With words as toys,
He oft annoys,
And makes us feel like twits.

(kidding, i kid. tho' i DO feel like a "twit" today, as opposed to someone smart enough to hang out around here.)


HAHAHA. (tired and giddy. never a good combination) ; )

Unknown said...

Wit, n. Humor for the humorless.

mireille said...

Pia, joyeux anniversaire, you cutie. um: bit, fit, git, hit, kit, mitt, nit, pit, sit, never mind, wit, zit. xoxo

Anonymous said...

WIT, v. i. (from WITNESS To place in evidence; to represent as fact a fable that supports my argument.

Formerly, "to wit" was a favorite verb in legalese, used to alert courtroom audiences and juries that a long anecdote was forthcoming and it was safe to take a nap.

This continued until one day in Washington, DC, when the learned Mr. Hortense Fogbottom, having just delivered himself of a substantial argument in defense of a client who had been accused of flatulence in public, turned to the jury, uttered "To wit", took a deep breath to launch himself once again into the admiration of his own eloquence. At which moment, there was a loud BANG, and the Honorable Fogbottom shrieked in alarm, a load of buckshot in his backside!

A redfaced gentleman in hunter's fatigues rushed into the courtroom, introduced himself as a Mr. Cheney from the Audubon Society, and said "I'm trying to complete the museum's bird collection, and I swore I heard the call of the Black-Fronted Blue Warbler in here!"

The tale raced through the bars of the land, and lawyers, who are nothing if not exquisitely sensitive about matters pertaining to their own safety, ceased uttering phrases like "To wit" that made them sound like silly birds, and took to wearing orange vests during their argument.

These actions proved effective in preventing shotgun injuries to our nation's doctors of jurisprudence. Most of the time.

Anonymous said...

twit -- never mind, I can't talk right now.

Anonymous said...

She [Beatrice] speaks poniards, and every word stabs. If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her, she would infect to the north star.

Anonymous said...

if you "wit" your whistle, are you able to blow a clever tune?

Doug The Una said...

Mo'a, how did all of those beautiful insects get out of your imagination? Must have left a window open, again.

And pretty and gay, Ice?

Sure, Sar. I meant the whine.

Jamie Dawn, I'm sure I don't understand. I never heard of those words.

Neva, hurray for the limerick! What reason could I have to annoy such clever folk? That would be completely frivolous!

a4g, columnists are humorless but not witty. It's funny, I always thought narcissism would have a transitive property.

Amoeba, that was a well-done fable and plausible.

Quilly, you're typing.

Benedict, is that from Ovid?

Puppy, if you wit your whistle your catcalls summon sharks. Or so I've found.

Anonymous said...

I'm a shakespearian character, but let's not make much ado about nothing.

Doug The Una said...

A ha, are you the Iago-ish character from Much ado?

Anonymous said...

Not at all. Beatrice and I are the second couple, after the much more conventional Hero and Claudio. Actually it's "Benedick," but I've mondernized.

Cie Cheesemeister said...

Something of which I have very little at this hour of the morning.

Doug The Una said...

Ah right, Benedick. The one without the funeral march.

Nonsense, Cheesie, it's just that at 4 in the AM we use ours to argue with ourselves.