*Tit-for-Tat
By Maeve Maddox
An ESL reader has a question about the expression “tit for tat”:
If Tit is something we all commonly understand then is Tat the male counterpart of Tit? What does Tit and Tat mean in this idiom?
The impulse to attach a gendered meaning to the words in this idiom illustrates how folk etymologies are invented. In fact, “tit for tat” is an altered spelling of the expression “tip for tap.”
In the context of the original idiom, both tip and tap refer to a slight blow. Tip retains this meaning in the context of baseball. A pitch at which the batter swings and makes slight contact is called a tip. A “foul tip”—a tipped ball caught by the catcher—counts as a strike.
Tap, in the context of lightly striking something, is in general use as both noun and verb:
“Stopped at the traffic lights, he heard a tap on the window. (noun)
If a person has had multiple untreated concussions, could a simple tap to the head be harmful? (noun)
She paused, leaned over, and tapped him on the chin. (verb)
Woman in Court Fakes Hurt After Being Tapped on Head (verb)
“To give one tip for tap” was “to return blow for blow.” The figurative meaning was “to retaliate.” When the pronunciation and spelling changed, the original meaning remained attached to the altered form. Here are examples of recent usage of “tit for tat”:
“For the rest of the game, each team matched the other tit for tat.
Three men have been arrested after a series of violent tit-for-tat attacks
[G]iven the way Netanyahu has treated Rivlin, one cannot help wondering if there will be tit for tat following the March elections.
In the world of education, and most likely everywhere else, there is the pervasive presence of tit-for-tat. If I walked a mile to school in the snow, so can you. If I had to work hours and shed blood, sweat and tears, so can you.
“To give tit for tat” is not always used with the meaning “to return an injury with an injury.” Some speakers use it to convey the idea of cooperation or reciprocation:
Gifts should not be tit for tat, period.
When we hear the following expressions, we know the Law of Reciprocity is at work: “Quid pro quo”; “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”; “Tit-for-tat”; and “Give and take.”
In Cockney rhyming slang, “tit for tat” translates as “hat.”
Note: Rhyming slang uses a phrase to stand for a word that rhymes with the last word in the phrase. The phrases are then shortened to the beginning word or words. For example, the sentence “Me trouble bought ‘erself a new tit-fa” translates as “My wife bought herself a new hat.” (“trouble and strife”=wife).
Here are some more words and expressions that convey the sense of “to give tit for tat”:
fight back
hit back
respond
react
reciprocate
counterattack
return like for like
get back at someone
get even
get one’s own back
pay someone back
give someone a taste of their own medicine
take revenge
be revenged
avenge oneself
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/tit-for-tat/
