KITTLE OR TICKLISH.
(3) What does "kittlo" signify? In tho days of mv boyhood, and the rough games of a country school, ''kittle" was quite a common word. "He's kittlo. Lfu's kittlo him.'' Certain hoys were known among their schoolfellows for extreino seniibilitv or rxcessivo sensitiveness to touch. Any touch below tho armpits, on the sole of 'the bnro foot, or on some other sensitive part of the person was sufficient to produco in them a condition of shrieking protestations, causing them ui turn and twist and squirm in order to escape. Such hoys were said to be "kittle.*' He's kittlo—that is, he's easily excited by the touch of a stranger's hand. This, I think, is the sense in which llurns frequently uses the word. "Kittle" means easily excited, easily induced to do a certain thins, easily driven to adopt a certain coarse. Mr J. L. Hobertson suggests "likely" as representinc the force of "kittle." This, I believe, is exactly -what it does represent, "I wiad bo kittlo to bo mislcar'd" means "I 'wad bo easily excited to bo unmannerly." Or, in Mr J. L. Robertson's phrase: 'T wad be likely to be rude."
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Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16721, 2 January 1920, Page 9
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194KITTLE OR TICKLISH. Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16721, 2 January 1920, Page 9
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