Git (slang)


Git is a term of insult with origins in English denoting an unpleasant, silly, incompetent, annoying, senile, elderly or childish person.
As a mild oath it is roughly on a par with ' and marginally less pejorative than '. Typically a good-natured admonition with a strong implication of familiarity, git is more severe than or idiot but less severe than wanker, arsehole or twat when offence is intended.
The word git first appeared in print in 1946, but is undoubtedly older. It is originally an alteration of the word get, dating back to the 14th century. A shortening of beget, get insinuates that the recipient is someone's misbegotten offspring and therefore a bastard. In parts of northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland get is still used in preference to git.
The word has been ruled by the Speaker of the House of Commons to be unparliamentary language.

Notable Usage

John Lennon calls Walter Raleigh "such a stupid get" in The Beatles song, "I'm So Tired".
It was in self-mocking spirit that Linus Torvalds named his Git version control system.