twerp
an irritating or foolish person
TRANSLATION
der Heini, die Flasche
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"The former Labour MP Willie Hamilton has died at the age of 82 - his catalogue of criticism of the Royals, included branding the Queen "a clockwork doll" and Prince Charles 'a TWERP',..."
(BBC News - 27th January 2000)
(BBC News - 27th January 2000)
Did you
know?
Twerp is an old slang word meaning an irritating person. The meaning of twerp is fairly loose, and can also be applied to an idiot, or playful child.
Both Jonathan Green (in his dictionary of slang) and the Oxford English Dictionary cite a letter written on the 6th October 1944, by J. R. R. Tolkien (who wrote "Lord of the Rings") to his son Christopher (then serving the army). In that letter Tolkien remembers a certain T. W. Earp ("the original twerp" he writes). This T. W. Earp was President of the Oxford Union just before the First World War, and it may have been during that war that this Oxford slang word twerp spread from the officers to the men and, thus, became more widely known.
Twerp is recorded as soldiers' slang in a book published in 1925.
(adapted from Kel Richards)
Both Jonathan Green (in his dictionary of slang) and the Oxford English Dictionary cite a letter written on the 6th October 1944, by J. R. R. Tolkien (who wrote "Lord of the Rings") to his son Christopher (then serving the army). In that letter Tolkien remembers a certain T. W. Earp ("the original twerp" he writes). This T. W. Earp was President of the Oxford Union just before the First World War, and it may have been during that war that this Oxford slang word twerp spread from the officers to the men and, thus, became more widely known.
Twerp is recorded as soldiers' slang in a book published in 1925.
(adapted from Kel Richards)
