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twixt

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May 01, 2009, 20:42
Kalleh
twixt
I heard the word twixt used tonight. I thought that word was archaic. Is it still occasionally used? Is it used in England?
May 02, 2009, 02:39
BobHale
"betwixt" is very occasionally heard, but almost exclusively in the tautological expression "betwixt and between".


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
May 02, 2009, 03:49
zmježd
Both twixt and its variant 'twixt show up a bit over at Google Books (link). Another set phrase it shows up in is the proverb: There's many a slip, twixt the cup and the lip. It sounds no more archaic to me than albeit or whom.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
May 02, 2009, 21:49
Kalleh
quote:
It sounds no more archaic to me than albeit or whom
Really? Wow. I use whom and albeit all the time, but I can't say I've ever used twixt.

The OED says it's an aphetic form of atwixt (which I've not heard of) and betwixt. They also cite an 1878 medical quote, which I found interesting: "These primitive cerebral vesicles give rise to new segments... The first is known as the Fore-brain or Prosencephalon; the next as the Twixt-brain or Thalamencephalon." I've not heard it used that way.
May 03, 2009, 11:42
<Asa Lovejoy>
I use it every time I've finished eating a Twix candy bar. When I'm finished I'm twixt.

More twattle from Asa

Proofreader, are you just gonna sit there and ignore this thread? Roll Eyes
May 03, 2009, 12:35
<Proofreader>
yes