What the heck is a"peeve" and what does it have to do with "pets"?

SanctionII

Given the number of "peeve" posts, my inquiring mind wants to know.

drsvenghali

A "peeve" is something that annoys or irritates you, and since irritation is a highly individual emotion, one's "peeve" mileage may vary from one's neighbor's. I am "peeved," for instance, by people who assume that my license plates (which refer rather cryptically to books) mean that I spend every waking hour rooting for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Buckophiles, conversely, are probably peeved at the cool disdain with which I disclaim any pro-Buckeye sentiments.

For a word that expresses a universal (one presumes) human emotion, "peeve" is a remarkably recent coinage, first appearing in print as a verb only in 1908 and a noun (the thing that peeves) in 1911. Both "peeves," however, arose as what linguists call "back-formations" of the much older term "peevish," meaning "ill-tempered," that first appeared in the late 14th century. Back-formations, the derivation of a "root" word from a more complex form, are common in English -- the verb "to sculpt," for instance, was formed from the much older word "sculptor."

The precise derivation of "peevish" is uncertain, but it may be related to the Latin "perversus," meaning "reversed, perverse." The original meaning of "peevish" was simply "silly or foolish," but by about 1530 it had acquired the sense of "irritable, ill-tempered or fretful." Surprisingly, it then took several hundred years to develop "peeve" as the word for the irritating agent or action. "Pet peeve," meaning the one thing that annoys you more than anything else, first appeared around 1919. The "pet" (in the sense of "favorite") formulation probably owes its popularity and longevity to its mild perversity ("favorite annoyance" is a bit oxymoronic) as well as its snappy alliteration.

CoinHusker

I had a dog named "Peeve" once.

SanctionII

drsvengahli, a tip of the hat to you for your informative reply. I now know more about the word "peeve" than I ever expected to learn. My command of the English language, both written and spoken is better than it was when I was in school, but it is far from adequate.

I am amazed at persons like you whose knowledge of the spoken and written word, both the proper structure of same and the history of same, is far beyond mine and probably 99.99% of the general population. Thanks for the information. Any day in which I learn something new is a good day in my book.

poorguy

<---- Party Pooper.

Given the fact that neiter have anything to do with coins, this should be in the OF.