touch of the 'tism

English

Etymology

See touch (“a little bit; a small amount”) and 'tism (“autism”). User-generated website Know Your Meme dates the first attested usage to 29 April 2007 on an online forum; popularised in 2022 on video-sharing social media service TikTok.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

touch of the 'tism

1. (Internet slang, euphemistic, sometimes humorous) A mild form or manifestation of autism.
   • 2021, Chad Prather, Am I Crazy?:

     Greta Thunberg […] has been declared Time Magazine's Person of the Year. That's right, the winner of 2019's illustrious POTY award goes to the temperamental teenager with a touch of the 'tism.

Related terms

• acoustic (“euphemistic form of autistic”)

References

• “touch of the 'tism”, in Know Your Meme, launched 2007