Talk:Thought for the Day

Twee?

Howard C. Berkowitz 03:48, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I put it in thinking "that's not the word I want to use, I must replace it before I submit it" and didn't. TftD is considered a bit twee by many: the problem it has is that it sits on this very difficult perch - if the contributors are a teeny bit too enthusiastic in their Bible-thumping they are considered fanatical, and on the other side they can't water it down to - err - homeopathic levels. So they have to keep it at this very uncomfortable medium that is very hard to get to, and so often fall on the side of caution where it is just bland and inoffensive. 'Bland' was rather the word I was looking for.

Anyway, TftD almost satirises itself at points: "I was watching the cricket the other day, and it was jolly good and all. Then it got me to thinking: the cricketers are men, and, you know Jesus was a man too. And bla bla bla..." The link they find between the current event and the spiritual reflection can very, very shaky at times to the point of comedy. (A link to Rowan Atkinson would be in order if we were anything less than a serious encyclopedia.) –Tom Morris 16:23, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

"Twee" must be idiomatic BE -- I had never seen it used before theis.

Serious encyclopedias have to deal with less than serious subjects. The other day, I was trying to think of a way to have a random selector, perhaps using speech to text, between Monty Python and Glenn Beck -- sort of a Turing Test variant. Howard C. Berkowitz 17:51, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

The New York Times used "twee" just today, in its four-star review of the restaurant Del Posto. Bruce M. Tindall 17:56, 29 September 2010 (UTC)