To a Tee

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, it’s Joanne from Wilmot, Ohio.

Hi, Joanne. Welcome to the program.

Thank you. It’s good to be here.

Well, I was doing a crossword puzzle. It threw me off just a little bit because the clue was suit to A and three letters. I, of course, filled in T-E-A.

That makes sense. Things have always suited me to a T-E-A, T, because I’m a tea drinker big time.

Good, it’s comforting.

But that was wrong. It was T-E-E. I’m wondering, how can you suit to a T-E-E? How can you suit to a T-E-E? I’m not a golfer.

No.

And then in another crossword puzzle, I found it just the letter T, which is right. And how does it suit me?

So your confusion is you came across suit to a T, and counter to your expectations, it wasn’t spelled T-E-A.

Right.

What kind of tea drinker are you? Are we talking fine china and sugar cubes, or are we talking lots of ice and lots of sugar in a tall pitcher?

We’re talking mugs.

Mugs.

Mugs of tea.

Okay.

-huh.

So you think suited to a tea has to do with just tea that’s al dente, so to speak, al dente. Perfect tea, right?

It’s comforting. It’s comforting. It suits me to a tea.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, you might have to start brewing a little bit of tea because…

Boiling dictionary pages.

Well, for a little comfort because, Joanne, it’s definitely T-E-E or just, as you said, the letter T. It’s been like that going all the way back to the 17th century. And there are lots of competing theories about this.

The one that seems to be the most likely for me is that perhaps it’s a shortening of the word tittle, T-I-T-T-L-E, which means something really tiny, like the tiniest point of punctuation, like a little umlaut or a little dot over an I, something completely tiny.

Okay.

You know, so right on point. That’s my guess. You see the term tittle in the New Testament. Jesus uses the expression jot or tittle, meaning a tiny, tiny, tiny thing. And that’s what I’m thinking. It is just right on point.

One thing about it, though, the letter T is spelled T-E-E. Every letter in the alphabet can actually be spelled out as a word as well. So whether it’s the letter T or it’s spelled out as T-E-E, they’re referring to the same thing.

So actually both are correct, T-E-E and the letter T.

Yes, that’s right.

But it’s not T-E-A. That’s the only thing that’s not true here.

Well, I may say T-E-E, but I’m going to think T-E-A.

Well, I’m a big tea drinker myself. I like a good lap saying Souchong, so I’m right there with you. And I am kind of glad it’s got nothing to do with golf.

Yeah.

Well, thank you very much.

All right.

Well, cheers.

Bye-bye.

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