Twitterpated

Some time ago I wrote about how fast the dictionary is growing with new words due to the Internet and other technology changes. For example; words or phrases such as email, zine, esign, text me, webcast, and eblast are becoming part of our everyday vocabulary. Then there are the acronyms like LOL, TTYL and BRB. And sadly, with the current economy, rightsizing has replaced the word of downsizing. Verbs are becoming nouns and nouns are becoming verbs.

But recently, I was surprised to learn of a word that I didn’t even know existed, and it has already been repurposed. That word is twitterpate or twitterpated. As I understand it, when I rub my dog’s belly, and you get that rapid involuntary kick of their legs, they have been twitterpated. Then I discovered twitterpate has a second meaning thanks to the movie Bambi. It describes the giddy, butterflies in your belly, overcoming feeling of attraction and affection for another person. Or in Bambi’s case, when she became twitterpated with Feline.

But now there is a third definition of what I thought was a fairly obscure word. You are considered twitterpated when you are obsessed with Twitter. You can’t stop checking it.

For such a strange sounding word, it is surprising how quickly it has been adopted to three different definitions. Makes my head spin.

In the meantime, I’m off to walk my dog, and I’m sure she will twitterpate when I rub her belly after the walk.