# Brits: What is a "git" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722 "2002-09-02T21:50:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/1 "2002-09-02T21:50:45Z")
From watching English movies and television programs, I know it is an insult, but what literally is a “git” as in “You stupid git! You can’t do anything right.”\* Is it a weird version of idiot or what? \*[sub]I’m probably misspelling it terribly, sorry.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/2 "2002-09-02T22:03:57Z")
IANAB, but I believe it’s a variant of _get_, meaning bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/3 "2002-09-02T22:23:19Z")
In my experience it tends to describe someone who is intentionally obtuse - I suppose it is roughly equivalent to ‘asshole’ in meaning. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/4 "2002-09-02T22:29:18Z")
If **Biba** would come out of her shell, and post something, I’m sure she could enlighten us…she’s called me everything from a “sad git” to a “miserable git”, and I think it means “hot, roving stud”…but I may be incorrect… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/5 "2002-09-02T23:03:28Z")
It’s harder to define the currency of meaning than it is to give examples; if you’ve watched the groundbreaking UK TV comedy series _[The Young Ones](http://www.cultv.co.uk/young.htm)_, then it’s easy; Rik is a git; sometimes a sad git, sometimes a whiny git, sometimes just a stupid git, but always a git (Vyvyan, on the other hand, is a _Bastard_…) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/6 "2002-09-02T23:10:50Z")
> **[World Wide Words: Git](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-git1.htm)** > > What is the origin of the word 'git' that I read in a British book? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/7 "2002-09-02T23:22:28Z")
And who could forget Monty Python’s [Git Family](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/mrgit.php): Mr. A Snivelling Little Rat-Faced Git, his wife, Dreary Fat Boring Old, and their children, Dirty Lying Little Two-Faced and Ghastly Spotty Horrible Vicious Little. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/8 "2002-09-02T23:28:48Z")
Thanks, **Samclem** , excellent source. I will remember that link. …and **Superbee** , I’m sure that it was just a computer glitch that left the “hot roving stud…” part of the definition out of the link. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Toby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Uncle\_Toby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Toby)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/9 "2002-09-03T01:38:13Z")
I’m not English but for my sins I lived there for quite some time. I got the impression ‘Git’ means, an irritating person. As differentiated from ‘Twit’, a silly person or ‘Tosser’, a useless, lazy person. ‘Wanker’ means exactly the same thing as ‘jerk’ with the additional insinuation of incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/10 "2002-09-03T03:35:55Z")
Half of the time it is used to express jealousy. I.e when we watch James Bond bedding yet another babe we say “Git!” ---
**Author:** ![Biba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Biba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biba)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/11 "2002-09-03T10:12:56Z")
superbee, spot on with the description, you miserable git! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/12 "2002-09-03T10:19:15Z")
How is it pronounced, hard g or soft? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/13 "2002-09-03T10:20:39Z")
When I was at school, I was told (UL almost certainly) that “git” originally meant ‘pregnant camel’ in Arabic. It’s rude but not obscene. ---
**Author:** ![Biba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Biba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biba)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/14 "2002-09-03T10:21:03Z")
With a hard g. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/15 "2002-09-03T10:37:41Z")
[http://www.english2american.com/dictionary/g.html#git](http://www.english2american.com/dictionary/g.html#git) > [@](#): > > git n. Tricky one to define. What it doesn’t mean is what The Waltons meant when they said it (as in “git outta here, John-Boy”). Git is technically an insult but has a twinge of jealousy to it. You’d call someone a git if they’d won the Readers’ Digest Prize Draw, outsmarted you in a battle of wits or been named in Bill Gates’ Last Will and Testament because of a spelling mistake. Like sod, it has a friendly tone to it. I’m told it derives from Arabic, where it describes a pregnant female camel, of all things. I’m also told that it is a contraction of the word “illegitimate” - you be the judge. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/16 "2002-09-03T10:48:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > \*\*Half of the time it is used to express jealousy. I.e when we watch James Bond bedding yet another babe we say “Git!” \*\* I believe that would be _jammy_ git. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/17 "2002-09-03T10:54:31Z")
“Pregnant female camel” - as opposed to a pregnant male one. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Toby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Uncle\_Toby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Toby)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/18 "2002-09-03T14:37:43Z")
The O. E. D., blessed be it’s mighty name (abases himself and bows three times facing Oxford) defines ‘git’ as “a useless person”. It is a variant of ‘get’ meaning ‘offspring, brat, useless child’. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/19 "2002-09-03T16:56:06Z")
Slight Hijack: From the Monty Python skit: “We did think once of having it changed by deed-poll, you know - to Watson or something like that.” What’s a deed-poll? Is that the means by which one could change one’s name from “Git” to something less pehorative like (say) “Heckler”? ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Toby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Uncle\_Toby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Toby)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722/20 "2002-09-03T17:57:27Z")
Well I’m not sure if ‘Heckler’ would be seem by everyone as less perjorative (here I would insert one of those smiley faces if I didn’t dislike them so much) but yes, a deed poll is what the Engish call the process by which you legally change your name. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-is-a-git/126722.md?page=2)