Behind the Grammar

24 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

1. Hello!
   Happy New Year!
   Health, luck and love!

   1. estakzess on January 28th, 2012 at 11:14 PM

2. Adding to the confusion, the name of the social networking tool “TwitThis” encourages people to think of a post as a “twit,” and when you use the tool it say you have successfully “twitted” your link.

   2. Mignon on October 8th, 2008 at 10:27 AM

3. It’s not called Tweeter, it’s called Twitter, so I think it should be, “I posted a Twit.” Or you could say, “I made a Twit,” but that sounds like two grammar geeks hooked up and started a family. Then again, Twitter users are Twits, so this might be confusing. And, if you use “tweet,” you can say that you just posted a “sweet tweet.”

   3. Papa Bradstein on October 7th, 2008 at 11:05 AM

4. Hey there. I’ve been around long enough to seriously think I know the answer and I think @EV would agree (heck, he IS Twitter).

   We “tweet”. Verb. Twitter is the platform/company/etc…

   So I tweeted yesterday. We do not twitter and we do NOT twit.

   4. Devon Nooccar Adams on October 7th, 2008 at 10:50 AM

5. I say “Twittered” because the “Twitter” brand isn’t well-known enough (or well-associated-with-Tweeting enough) to be what is meant when saying “Tweeted.”

   If I say, “I Tweeted,” someone will ask, “Huh??” and I’ll have to explain that “Tweeting is posting a Tweet at Twitter.”

   If I say, “I Twittered,” only those who do not already know what Twitter is will ask about it.

   With the former, even Twitterers will ask what “Tweeting” is, since it’s nowhere near universal in use–even by the users.

   Eesh, that’s complicated! But there’s my why behind my vote.

   5. Bon on September 26th, 2008 at 1:20 PM

6. I tweet. Yesterday, I tweeted. In my lifetime, I’ve tweetered. I’m tweetious, but my doctor says it’s tweetable.

   6. Evelyn McCormack on September 23rd, 2008 at 9:56 AM

7. “Twitter” is the service. “Tweet” is the verb, at least according to those who set up the service. “Twit” … well, I guess that would be me.

   7. Michael on September 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 AM

8. Good points about the other possibilities! I hate to change the possible answers after posting a poll though because it skews the already-oh-so-unscientific results.

   8. admin on September 20th, 2008 at 4:08 PM

9. Yesterday, I tweeted about grammar.

   That’s me in a nutshell, where I belong.

   9. AuggieWren on September 20th, 2008 at 7:35 AM

10. It’s definitely “tweeted,” since the verb appears to be “to tweet.” This is just about universal with my Twitter friends, most of whom have been tweeting for well over a year. Twitter is the name of the service, but not necessarily the name of the activity to interact with it.

    10. Maria on September 20th, 2008 at 6:17 AM

11. Although, thinking about it… if “retweet” works the same as the other verbs beginning with “re”, that MUST mean the verb is “Tweet”.

    11. Mike Lee on September 20th, 2008 at 4:33 AM

12. My understanding is:

    Twitter (noun): The Twitter website, or a specific Twitter profile.
    Twitter/Twittered/Twittering (verb): Posting a message on Twitter.
    Tweet (noun): A Twitter post.

    Because I’d never say a bird was “tweeting”, I’d say it was “twittering”. But I’d describe the sound as a “tweet”.

    12. Mike Lee on September 20th, 2008 at 3:39 AM

13. Tweet. I remember reading it on Twitter’s FAQ or other support page but it’s a shame that they hadn’t really tried to make it obvious.

    Twitter : Name of service
    Tweet : The post on Twitter or the action of posting on Twitter.

    If you say Twittered it’s like saying Xeroxed. A misuse through laziness, ignorance, or simply just being uninformed.

    13. Aulia on September 20th, 2008 at 1:35 AM

14. I think it is twitterred – like googledd

    14. rom on September 20th, 2008 at 1:25 AM

15. I say ‘I twitted…’ and it seems most of us are saying so ^^

    15. MissWhiteMoth on September 20th, 2008 at 1:12 AM

16. Seeing your poll, I want to choose both the first two- I tweeted if it was one tweet, I twittered if I did multiple tweets and dm’s etc.

    16. Brian Carter on September 19th, 2008 at 11:45 PM

17. I always want to say I twitted, because to me it seems the logical past tense, but I feel twitted just opens me up for ridicule.

    17. Bubbles on September 19th, 2008 at 10:23 PM

18. always “Tweet”. If asked what am I doing tapping away ok my iPhone, my response is usually “tweeting”, “sending a tweet” or checking my Twitter.

    18. tyroga on September 19th, 2008 at 9:21 PM

19. most of my friends don’t use twitter. so i try to avoid using the word tweet, because they are just getting used to the word twitter, and it confuses them

    19. julie on September 19th, 2008 at 8:13 PM

20. These days I say “I plurked” or “I pinged” more often, but tweeted would be my choice.

    20. Mike Kuypers on September 19th, 2008 at 8:13 PM

21. I say. I posted a tweet. I twittered the other day (past tense) or I will have to twitter that.

    I consider tweet to be the post. Twitter to be the action or program. So I can twitter, or i post a tweet. Or I twittered.

    but I could be wrong.

    21. Lanne on September 19th, 2008 at 8:12 PM

22. “Check out my latest tweet!”
    “I just left a little tweet.”
    “I just tweeted.”

    22. Karen _ The Editor on September 19th, 2008 at 8:02 PM

23. I would say, “I posted a tweet.”

    23. Lori on September 19th, 2008 at 7:42 PM

24. You know that if you say “Twitted” or “Twittered,” a little Twitter bird or perhaps a tremendous whale is sighing to itself, saying, “Don’t verbify me, bro!”

    Glad you posted this as a poll, Grammar Girl! I see I’m in the “Twittered” minority and that no one (yet) says “Twitted.” (Thank goodness, because that’s horrendous.)

    24. Fernando(el_gonzote) on September 19th, 2008 at 7:38 PM