> > <grin> OOR, a "nit" is the egg of a louse, or sometimes, a young louse. > > Picture the monkeys going through each other's fur, taking out parasites. > > But we've sort of forgotten that picture, and use it for people who use > > a large magnifying glass to look for itsy, bitsy problems or weaknesses, > > especially in someone else's work or way of doing something. > > >One more question, I vaguely seem to remember to have asked the same thing a >long time ago... >What is the 'wit' in nit wit? > >Could it be, that it has something to do with the Dutch word 'weten' >>> to >know? Wits are brains, so yes, it's close to 'weten'. >In that case, a nit wit is a 'niet weter', a not know-er. >WE also have the word 'betweter', short for : beter weter', meaning 'better >know-er'..... Not quite ... a nitwit is someone whose brain is about the size of a nit. Like saying someone has a little tiny pea-brain. >PS. > >English and old Dutch are actually very close, you know... Yes, isn't it fun? When I realized that "IJ" in Dutch, like the name of that island, (a double initial letter, with both capitalized!!) had turned into "Y" in English, it was like a big light had switched on in my head. Why, write it in cursive, and "Y" even LOOKS LIKE "IJ." And why else should Y never show up in Dutch, and IJ look so weird to English eyes? Vriendel'ij'ke groeten! "Friendl'ij' greetings!" LOL. Susan
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