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It's an onomatopoeic term for briefly sounding a horn, but I almost never hear it used for that. In my experience, there are two primary uses of the word in Ame
by 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
It's an onomatopoeic term for briefly sounding a horn, but I almost never hear it used for that. In my experience, there are two primary uses of the word in American English:
1) In the expression toot [one's] own horn, which means to praise oneself. Often in the form "I don't want to toot my own horn, but [...]".
2) A cutesy word for a fart, used primarily when talking to young children.
Notably, an elephant using its trunk to make noise is said to be trumpeting, not tooting.
- vesak 8y agoIsn't 1) exactly what tooting and tweeting both are really about, though?
- rainbowmverse 8y agoTooting is a more wholesome activity. Tweeting is an inherently performative act due to the nature of the platform. To toot is to be.
- Hoasi 8y ago> Notably, an elephant using its trunk to make noise is said to be trumpeting, not tooting. So if Mr Trump was on Mastodon would we say he was tooting or trumpeting?
- yborg 8y agoSo I'm born and raised in the US Midwest, and in my entire life 'toot' was never used as euphemism for 'fart' except in the context of the elementary school rhyme. I can perfectly understand people not liking the sound of the word or even how it looks, but the fart connotation seems like a manufactured rationale to me. Actually, for the population that would possibly use the word that way, i.e. 8 year-olds, the usage would be a positive feature, not a negative.
- jamesrcole 8y agoIt may not have that meaning for you, but it does for others. It's nothing manufactured. And, for many people, it's the only meaning that naturally comes to mind in phrases like "I tooted" or "Joe tooted".