Word for the Wise

January 18, 2006 Broadcast

Topic: Twee

Arthur Alexander Milne was born on this date in 1882. The British author is credited with many light comedies, plays, and a successful detective novel, but A.A. Milne's chief literary legacy remains his tales of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, and the rest of the gang.

Although generations have adored Milne, not every contemporary critic was taken by his work. Dorothy Parker, writing in The New Yorker as "Constant Reader," reviewed The House at Pooh Corner by noting that on page five, "Tonstant Weader Fwowed Up."

Had the word been coined then, Dorothy Parker might have labeled A.A. Milne twee; that is, "affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint." Twee—which is still a chiefly British term—originates in a baby talk version of the adjective sweet.

And what about Pooh? Milne's lovable bear is not the source of the poo suffix used as a derogatory diminutive (as in cutesy-poo), nor of the interjection pooh used to express contempt or disapproval. The sources of both the three- and the four-letter pooh's remains unknown, although lexicographers do know the pooh-pooh pooh predates Winnie.

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