Twee

Guests: Marc Spitz, Ammon Shea

Knitting, the ukulele, Wes Anderson movies, cats, Zooey Deschanel, J.D. Salinger, and Vampire Weekend – all are a part of the so-called “twee” aesthetic that quietly permeates today’s pop culture landscape.  Today, we take a look at how all things precious, precocious, and affectedly cute, have gone from uncool to mainstream. Our guest is MARC SPITZ, author of the recently-published book on the topic, Twee: The Gentle Revolution in Music, Books, Television, Fashion and Film. We’ll also get the origin of the word “twee” itself from English-language expert, AMMON SHEA, author of Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages.