re: #163 pharmmajor

A mystery for the ages: Why doesn’t the titmouse have tits?

Tit

1540s, “any small animal or object” (as in compound forms such as titmouse, tomtit, etc.); also used of small horses. Similar words in related senses are found in Scandinavian (cf. Icel. tittr, Norw. tita “a little bird”), but the connection and origin are obscure; perhaps, as OED suggests, the word is merely suggestive of something small. Used figuratively of persons after 1734, but earlier for “a girl or young woman,” usually in deprecatory sense of “a hussy, minx” (1590s). Tit for tat (1550s) is possibly an alteration of tip for tap “blow for blow,” from tip (v.3) “tap” + tap “touch lightly.”