# Gay slang word: twink **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825 "2001-05-29T00:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/1 "2001-05-29T00:13:42Z")
As I understand it, the word “twink” means a young yet legal (18-19 year old) guy. My two-part question is this: 1. What is the origin of the use of the word “twink” in this context? 2. How long has this word been used in this context? Was it used before the internet (pre-1990’s)? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/2 "2001-05-29T00:23:42Z")
From [dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=twink) > [@](#): > > twink > > /twink/ [UCSC] Equivalent to read-only user. Also reported on the Usenet group soc.motss; may derive from gay slang for a cute young thing with nothing upstairs (compare mainstream “chick”). > > Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2001 Denis Howe And > [@](#): > > twink /twink/ n. 1. [Berkeley] A clue-repellant user; the next step beyond a clueless one. 2. [UCSC] A read-only user. Also reported on the Usenet group soc.motss; may derive from gay slang for a cute young thing with nothing upstairs (compare mainstream `chick’). > > Source: Jargon File 4.2.0 From those, it looks like the gay slang preceded the Internet usage. Also > [@](#): > > twink \Twink, n. 1. A wink; a twinkling. [Obs.] > > 1. (Zo["o]l.) The chaffinch. [Prov. Eng.] > > Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. For “chaffinch” from [the same source](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=chaffinch): > [@](#): > > chaffinch (chfnch) > n. > > A small European songbird (Fringilla coelebs), the male of which has predominantly reddish-brown plumage. > > [Middle English chaffinche, from Old English ceaffinc: ceaf, chaff, husk + finch, finch.] Perhaps those who coined “twink” as slang thought the small songbirds were cute. Or perhaps the “wink” definition had more to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/3 "2001-05-29T00:52:45Z")
My WAG: Short form of Twinkie, the tasty but lightweight snackcake. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/4 "2001-05-29T01:01:38Z")
Actually, most definitions say it’s taken from the snack cake by Hostess: A twinkie is a young man, usually “tanned, blond and cream filled” But, it usually describes any young, good looking guy with a good sense of style. And here’s the “twink code” [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/ftp/bulgarians/twink-code.txt](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/ftp/bulgarians/twink-code.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/5 "2001-05-29T06:06:46Z")
In MMORPGs and MUDs, a ‘twink’ is a new or low-level character that has been given equipment beyond what they normally would be able to attain by either a high-level patron or a high-level character ran by the same person. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/6 "2001-05-29T06:11:49Z")
A twink, in my experience, is a young or ‘attempting to be young’ gay man who is superficial and fixated on being trendy. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/7 "2001-06-06T23:33:21Z")
“Twink” also refers to body type - lean, hairless, young. Similarly, “bear” is heavier, hairy, often older. In between you get “otter” or “wolf,” but it’s not used as much. There is a stronger identification within the community of being a bear, since it’s an obvious physical trait (beard, hairy chest), and additionally there is a large part of the bear community that identifies with the leather/S&M/B&D communities. Then there are club kids, Guppies, and a whole other list of “types,” all very amusing. Me, I graduated from twinkie status to demi-goddess of the twinkies, as I’m a little too old to be a twinkie, but I once ruled them as their benevolent dictator. Eventually I’ll be raised to godhood. 😉 Esprix ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/8 "2001-06-07T04:34:23Z")
Ah (said Oxy, doing his best Professor-and-the-Madman bit), but take a look at _this_: ``` The Hampton-Giddes were the first to arrive from the ballet. "Fabulous latticework," gushed Archibald Anson Gidde, appraising his host's new rooftop deck. Peter Cipriani nodded. "I found this *gorgeous* **twink** carpenter in the Mission. Dirt cheap and pecs that won't quit. Jason something-or-other." "They're *all* called Jason, aren't they?" Peter snickered. "Or Jonathan." "Was his ear pierced?" "Nope. But he wore cut-off to *die*. And knee socks with Lands End come-fuck-me boots. He was hot." "How is he with kitchens?" "Who knows? I can only speak for bedrooms, my dear." "Ooooooh," said Archibald Anson Gidde. ``` -_More Tales of the City_, first edition, Harper Colophon 1980, p. 85. Emphasis added. Look at the description: Carpenter, pecs that won’t quit, boots with knee socks. This not exactly Prague’s latest college boy, is it? So, a question: How the hell did the word come to mean something that in days of old would’ve been the slightly older end of _chicken_? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/9 "2001-06-07T06:16:26Z")
My guess, Oxy, is that either the lexical field shifted (the guy Maupin is describing sounds like a modern twink except a little older and more muscular), or that twink just meant a fuckable and/or submissive guy and it got more specific. Anyway, I have wasted my youth too hairy and unshapely to be a twink. _sigh_ I could be an otter, though. Or a smurf. Or maybe just your average pagan-kneedipper-activist-geek-alternafaggot. ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-slang-word-twink/66825/10 "2001-06-07T06:32:31Z")
I believe that twink is another word for cocksucker, cause a twinkie _is_ something you eat(I don’t, too sweet) and is the size and shape of a penis(some penis, somewhere). I could be wrong, this is what I always thought it meant. 🙂