Nitwitville

[sonyet]

Hi everybody!
I found the name in the subject in an American blog post.
This was the sentence:
It's maddening how many people in PR have absolutely no sense of the difference between what The Boston Globe covers and what, say, Network World or RCR Wireless News or The Nitwitville Weekly News covers. [...] The bigger issue is that if you're not figuring out what I cover and how before you pitch me, you are really wasting your own time.

I'm Italian and I've never heard of this paper before. I've seached the Internet and I can't find references about it, apart the blog I've already mentioned.
According to your opinion and experience, does this paper really exist or is it only a sort of pun... coming from *nitwit*?
Thanks in advance for your help.
S

 

[TheParser]

Hi everybody!
I found the name in the subject in an American blog post.
This was the sentence:
It's maddening how many people in PR have absolutely no sense of the difference between what The Boston Globe covers and what, say, Network World or RCR Wireless News or The Nitwitville Weekly News covers. [...] The bigger issue is that if you're not figuring out what I cover and how before you pitch me, you are really wasting your own time.

I'm Italian and I've never heard of this paper before. I've seached the Internet and I can't find references about it, apart the blog I've already mentioned.
According to your opinion and experience, does this paper really exist or is it only a sort of pun... coming from *nitwit*?
Thanks in advance for your help.
S

***** NOT A TEACHER

***** ONLY MY OPINION

Sonyet,

Since I LOVE newspapers (print, not online), I had to be one of those

answering you.

I am 99% sure that you are 100% correct: There is no such place

as Nitwitville. Could you imagine anyone living in a place with such a

name?!!!

Thank you

P. S. Of course, probably many people feel that certain cities

(and even countries) deserve such a name, but that is another

matter for a different forum!!!

 

[birdeen's call]

Is "nitwit" often used in America? I seem to have heard it said by the British only.

 

[TheParser]

Is "nitwit" often used in America? I seem to have heard it said by the British only.

***** NOT A TEACHER

***** ONLY MY OPINION


Birdeen's Call,

I do not know how often "nitwit" is used in the States, but I'm sure

that most native speakers in the States know of it. We have a variety

of words for that kind of person:

jerk

airhead

pinhead

bonehead

birdbrain

and the big explosive one that I cannot say on a

family-oriented website such as this. It is so powerful that

newspapers do not print the complete word, and TV and radio

stations have to bleep out the last four letters. The first three

letters are the same that refer to a horse-like animal. I shall be

quite daring and brave, and tell you that the word starts with



the first letter of the alphabet.

Thank you

P. S. I have heard that many British people laugh at how

puritanical we Americans are -- at least on the surface.

I have just read that a new American movie (about a British

king who conquered his stammer) has been given an "R" rating simply

because the actor who portrays the king actually says the

naughty word that starts with the sixth letter of the alphabet!!!

 

[BobK]

I think 'nitwit' is slightly more current in Br Eng than in Am Eng, but that's not saying much! It's rather restrained and old-fashioned.

Using the suffix -ville to make an imaginary place-name is not uncommon.

Wit is cleverness (which needn't have anything to do with humour). I'm not sure if the nit part is the little animal or just a negative particle. (The animal hypothesis strikes me as more likely; it makes the word 'nitwit' almost precisely analogous with 'birdbrain'.)

b

 

[acslater017]

Hi everybody!
I found the name in the subject in an American blog post.
This was the sentence:
It's maddening how many people in PR have absolutely no sense of the difference between what The Boston Globe covers and what, say, Network World or RCR Wireless News or The Nitwitville Weekly News covers. [...] The bigger issue is that if you're not figuring out what I cover and how before you pitch me, you are really wasting your own time.

I'm Italian and I've never heard of this paper before. I've seached the Internet and I can't find references about it, apart the blog I've already mentioned.
According to your opinion and experience, does this paper really exist or is it only a sort of pun... coming from *nitwit*?
Thanks in advance for your help.
S

Haha, I cannot say for sure whether or not there is a place called "Nitwitville". But yes, a nitwit is an idiot, a foolish person. So Nitwitville is a bit like "Idiot City". :roll:

The ending "-ville" is used to describe a town or village. For example, the Facebook game "Farmville" = "Farm Town".

 

[Ouisch]

"Nitwit" may not be en courant in AmE, but it will be understood by any native speaker. And it is common usage to add the -ville suffix to almost any word to create a sense of community (whether good or bad). For example, if you're very crudely terminating a romantic relationship with someone, you might text them "Dear XXX, Welcome to Dumpsville."

 

[5jj]

Other -wit word include dimwit, halfwit and - close your eyes Parser and other puritanical Americans - f**kwit.


Incidentally, even if we are as prudish as I have just been with my asterisks, we speakers of BrE could not bring ourselves to speak of 'the naughty word that starts with the sixth letter of the alphabet!!" We'd simply say, 'the F-word'.

 

[BobK]

... it is common usage to add the -ville suffix to almost any word to create a sense of community (whether good or bad). For example, if you're very crudely terminating a romantic relationship with someone, you might text them "Dear XXX, Welcome to Dumpsville."

And of course, the idea of place needn't be there: 'Dumpsville', like 'Heartbreak Hotel', still has a tinge of 'localness' about it - the place where people go when they're X'. But one might say: 'Don't bother seeing the latest <some-film> - talk about Yawnsville!'

b

 

[Ouisch]

And of course, the idea of place needn't be there: 'Dumpsville', like 'Heartbreak Hotel', still has a tinge of 'localness' about it - the place where people go when they're X'. But one might say: 'Don't bother seeing the latest <some-film> - talk about Yawnsville!'

b

You are quite correct, sir! I'm off to buy a one-way ticket to "D'oh!-ville."