![the twizzle the twizzle](https://d336s4wdg1liq.cloudfront.net/default/yacht-twizzle-running-03-5587db1a932cb_v_default_medium.jpeg)
A Lab's thick coat wraps itself around the tail, and an inch or so will continue off the end in a twist of hair.
![the twizzle the twizzle](https://traxx24.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/S71214-13385582.jpg)
Many Labs develop a "twizzle" at the end of their tails at around 4 or 5 months. Some dogs, especially Labrador retrievers, have twizzles at the end of their tails: As one guide describes it:
![the twizzle the twizzle](http://www.charterworld.com/images/yachts-6/%5B57m-Yacht-TWIZZLE%5D-6405-38.jpg)
The candy was invented in 1845, only a generation or two after the earliest citations for twizzle in the OED.
#THE TWIZZLE MOVIE#
Probably the most familiar meaning is the Twizzlers brand name for ropy red or black candy, originally licorice flavored, that you can find in grocery stores and movie concession counters. Here are some that I've found, and I'm sure there are at least a few more: Linguists call it a "frequentative" suffix, which means that it carries a meaning of repeated or continued action, and indeed, verbs like twinkle, jangle, wrestle, and bustle do suggest actions that go on for a while, instead of happening quickly and then stopping.Īs it turns out, twizzle has a number of other meanings, which haven't made it into the OED or the Random House Unabridged dictionary on my desk. This suffix isn't a productive one anymore, which is why you don't find it in grammar books listed alongside favorites such as -ness and - able.
#THE TWIZZLE PLUS#
The OED's best guess as to the word's origin is that it is a variant of twistle, which derives from the verb twist plus the suffix -le.
#THE TWIZZLE MANUAL#
The earliest use of twizzle that I've found in the context of ice dancing is from Ice Dancing: A Manual for Judges and Skaters, published in 1966 by the Canadian Figure Skating Association. The intransitive meaning of twirling oneself, and the corresponding noun meaning, also date back to the early 1800s. In vain she cut and screwed the thread, she burnt it in the candle.she twizled it between her finger and thumb.but enter the eye of the needle it would not. Here's one of the OED's attestations, from 1840: Dating from the late 1700s, it simply means to twirl something or form it by twisting something. It's even in the Oxford English Dictionary, although not with a meaning specific to ice dancing. Although 2014 is the year when twizzle broke through into widespread recognition, you can see it turn up in the stories from the winter Olympics in Vancouver and Torino, although by the time you get back to Salt Lake City in 2002, it's pretty scarce. It's a required move in the ice dancing routines, and was spoken of again and again by the commentators. ( United States Figure Skating Association) The weight remains on the skating foot with the free foot in any position during the turn, and then is placed beside the skating foot to skate the next steps. But for language watchers, an even more interesting question than who would take first place was this:Īs those of us who don't habitually follow ice dancing have now learned, a twizzle is a traveling spin on one skate, or to be more precise:Ī traveling turn on one foot with one or more rotations, which is quickly rotated with a continuous (uninterrupted) action. Their story was made even more dramatic by the longevity of their partnership (17 years), the longtime rivalry between them and the Canadian team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and the surprising fact that both teams share the same coach and even train together. Meryl Davis and Charlie White made history this week as the first Americans ever to win the Olympic gold medal in ice dancing.