Hi Tweets,

Live long enough and you'll and learn everything you need to know. From UKBN--

And it links to my earlier query re the paucity of original North American
birding idiom. Brit birders do this kind of witty wordplay all the time,
then North American birders borrow it. I had a thought about that on the bus
to work one morning and suddenly realised that most slang originates with
the young; the demographic surveys of birding over the last couple of
decades, however, show North American birding to be an activity in which the
middle-aged and elderly vastly predominate.

M

>Jrhough1 at aol.com wrote:
>>
>> Dear UKBN,
>> I have heard several stories of where this word originated from, but to help
>> me with an article I am preparing, I would be grateful for any offers of
>> explanations, or anecdotes as to its early origin.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> Julian Hough
>>
>
>If I remember correctly a letter about this appeared in BB 10 or more
>years ago. I seem to recall that in Norfolk in the early 60s, a guy
>called (I think appologies if your reading this and I've screwed up your
>name) Howard Medhust used to arrive with partner at the scene of a
>rarity on a motorbike. The end result was that those fortunate to arrive
>in a warm car nicknamed this shivering couple 'the twitchers' and the
>name stuck.
>The origin of 'twitcher' is less obscure than the ornithological origin
>of 'gryllo' as in my e-mail address.
>Ian (alias Gryllo)