# what's a git? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 1999, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976 "1999-08-19T03:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/21 "2000-08-30T13:27:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > \*\*Speaking of English idioms, what does “snap!” mean after someone asks a question? \*\* Don’t you remember the children’s card game of Snap? When two cards are the same you go “Snap!” Hence, “Snap” is the response when someone asks the same question another person was also going to ask, or had the answer to. PS If you want to pick up a working knowledge of East-end slang, just get addicted to British TV shows like _The Bill_. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/22 "2000-08-30T13:41:30Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by tomndebb:_ > The OED claims that it is a worthless person. Interestingly, the oldest cite for this usage is 1946. I had the idea it was quite a bit older. That’s because _git_ is a more recent variant of _get_. The older pronunciation is still the standard in the North of England. The earliest example of _get_ in the OED is 1706. From the examples it gives, it seems it meant “bastard” until about the 1940s, when it appears to have become a more generalised insult. FWIW, I think it’s more insulting that “twit”, but less so than “bastard”, arsehole or “wanker”. I’ve rarely heard it used without a prefatory adjective: stupid, daft, mardy, posh, southern, etc. I suspect it’s something to do with the fact that it sounds a bit weak as a monosyllable. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by DVous Means_ > If you want to pick up a working knowledge of East-end slang, just get addicted to British TV shows like _The Bill_. [tiresome pedantry]Except _The Bill_ is set in South London, not the East End.[/tiresome pedantry] ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/23 "2000-08-30T13:51:59Z")
## quote: ## I suspect it’s something to do with the fact that it sounds a bit weak as a monosyllable. So how do you explain them calling someone a tit? As in the excamatory: “You tit!” ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/24 "2000-08-30T13:52:57Z")
Git = Rimmer, from Red Dwarf. Randy Little Git= Marv Albert Smug little Git= Regis Philbin hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/25 "2000-08-30T14:19:30Z")
I love gits. Especially cheese gits. Regular gits with butter don’t do much for me, but they seem to be all the rage here in the South (they’ve replaced hash-browns, if you can believe that!) ---
**Author:** ![Girlbysea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Girlbysea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlbysea)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/26 "2000-08-30T14:22:37Z")
In the south, I think it means, Please leave the room!!! ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/27 "2000-08-30T15:40:09Z")
Not sure, thinksnow. I think “tit” is more likely to be used in a jocular way than “git”. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/28 "2000-08-30T15:56:03Z")
Git, tit, twit, bastard, pillick, cloth eared bint… you can have 'em all… My all time favourite has to be - Berk! As in: 'Ez a right berk, ain’e! ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/29 "2000-08-30T17:50:12Z")
To me a git or get is someone who is wilfully stupid and not open to logic. Like the little uniform officials who are also described as “jobsworths” From the oft heard mini-hitlers who say “I can’t let you do the it’s more than me job is worth” A tit can be anyone who has has rush of blood to the head and does something silly without thinking.Some folk are like this all the time but often it is used as self criticism like when you know you are going to hurt yourself doing something stupid and still do it anyway. Few more for you, Pratt Knobhound Tosser Wanker Pillock ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/30 "2000-08-30T23:14:26Z")
I’ve not heard “knobhound” before, casdave. Is that local to you, or do I just lead an incredibly sheltered life? ---
**Author:** ![Intriguing\_Question\_Mark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee59a6/32.png) [@Intriguing\_Question\_Mark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intriguing_Question_Mark)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/31 "2000-08-31T00:02:27Z")
How bout when the Beatles say “and curse Sir Walter Raleigh / He was such a stupid git” in “I’m so tired” on the white album? I dont understand that. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/32 "2000-08-31T00:26:00Z")
IQM – It makes a lot more sense if you quote it in context: > [@](#): > > I’m so tired, I’m feeling so upset > Although I’m so tired I’ll have another cigarette > And curse Sir Walter Raleigh > He was such a stupid git. Raleigh, of course, introduced the English to the vice of tobacco smoking. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/33 "2000-08-31T00:26:29Z")
IQM, The line before the one you quoted gives it away: > [@](#): > > Although I’m so tired I’ll have another cigarette > And curse Sir Walter Raleigh > He was such a stupid get.\* Raleigh was credited (wrongly, I believe) with introducing tobacco to England from the New World. \*The Beatles, being Northerners, rhyme _get_ with _cigarette_, rather than _fit_, as a Southerner would do. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/34 "2000-08-31T00:31:19Z")
But while we’re on the subject… The subject of Raleigh, potatoes and tobacco is covered in this month’s _Fortean Times_. According to the article, the first report of a person smoking in England is in 1556 (a sailor in Bristol), and one of Columbus’s sailors was arrested in Barcelona for smoking in the street in 1498. Raleigh was not born until 1552. ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/35 "2000-08-31T01:42:27Z")
They used ‘git’ alot in Harry Potter - so it must be a word thats ok in polite company. I like ‘wanker’ & ‘arsehole’ though. very expressive! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2000, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/36 "2000-08-31T09:11:59Z")
okay, this is a “personal best” for one of my old threads being revived - over a year later. nothing ever dies on SDMB, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Intriguing\_Question\_Mark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee59a6/32.png) [@Intriguing\_Question\_Mark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intriguing_Question_Mark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/37 "2000-09-01T03:47:32Z")
I didnt know it was old, I’m just new and looking for something interesting to talk about 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/38 "2000-09-01T04:37:46Z")
hey, no probs - but were you searching for the word “git,” or reading all the old threads, or what? how’d you come across it? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/39 "2000-09-01T05:45:48Z")
**TomH** I’d no idea that ‘knobhound’ might be purely regional as it gets used round Castleford area so often, there are plenty of reasons it seems to do so. I’m surprised that you are not familiar,after all, Sheffield is not that for away so this sounds very local to me. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2000, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976/40 "2000-09-01T08:43:51Z")
I’ve certainly never heard it either, **casdave** , but then I am a soft southern lad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-git/6976.md?page=3)