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Twinkle toes

Posted by Pamela on July 05, 2007

In Reply to: Twinkle toes posted by RRC on July 04, 2007

: : : : : : : What does 'twinkle toes' mean? Can I call someone 'twinkle toes' without offending them?

: : : : : : My guess: I think it means someone light on his/her feet. And referring to a man as "twinkle toes" might be an insulting term for homosexual. "Light in the loafers." But if it's, for example, a little girl in a tutu, it would be a good thing.

: : : : : "Light on your feet" means you are a good dancer. If you equate dancing well with effeteness, then that's your problem.

: : : :
: : : : I don't equate dancing well with effeteness, but I find "twinkle-toes" offensive, being at once dismissive and cutesy. Even a little girl in a tutu might well feel insulted by it.

: : : Not, probably, the first use, but the use that likely inspired virtually all the others, is the movie, "Twinkletoes" , starring Colleen Moore as an aspiring dancer. From IMDB: "An example of an improbable genre, this silent musical, released for Christmas 1926, makes an agreeable light entertainment, at least until it collapses into a subplot of virginity threatened." It's not heard much nowadays as a cheerful monicker for a dancer, but I've never heard of it having any offensive connotation, and certainly not because of any "effeteness." (Is this a code word?)
: : : SS

: : If you equate effeteness with homosexuality, that's your problem - uh, I mean go to a nice dictionary and look up "effete." ~rb

: It was just a feet joke - don't forget to breathe.

Does the "twinkle" in twinkletoes come from sequins on THOSE type of shoes? Or am I being influenced by the shoes of Fairy Twinkletoes (loved by millions). The urban dictionary has an entry for twinkle toes as "gay. An effiminate homosexual, a fairy". On the other hand, the "twinkle" might refer to the rapid flicker of stars, which explains why my (not at all effininate) workmate says that if I called him "twinkletoes" he would think it meant "fast on his feet and good at dancing ... nothing to do with gay". Mind you, I can't imagine anyone turning to an adult and calling them twinkletoes, except humorously. Would a 12-year-old girl be offended? Not if she was a "princess girly-girl" (an insult that I heard issued with absolute scorn by a young girl on the train). Pamela

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