Thread by @bizzycoy

Earlier this year, I was thinking about funny women.

Wondering: did funny women suddenly appear last century?

Or have we been around longer?

And if so, why don’t I know about any funny women pre-1900?

Where did that history go? Can I find it?

I sat down at the ol' Google and started doing some research.

Could I find our funny foremothers?

Um, yes, I could.

What I discovered

BLEW

MY

MIND.

And I had to share it.

Turns out, there have been funny women since the dawn of history.

Courtesans, clowns, cartoonists, comedians.

Playwrights, performers, poets, provocateurs.

All around the world, in a bazillion different cultures. All the way back to Greek and Roman antiquity.

WTF!!!

I started digging into academic journals.

Requesting books from the library.

My Google doc soon filled up with 200+ ladies who were known for their wit back in the day...

...but whose names have been forgotten or lost from our collective memory.

And OH, what WOMEN!

Which brings me to an announcement.

Starting Jan 2—and every Thursday in 2020—I’ll be bringing you:

#Scribblewits
A weekly tweetstorm about the wittiest women from ancient history.

Each week, I’ll tell you the story of one humorous lady from old tymes.

I’m talking REALLY old tymes. Women born before Jesus, all the way up to 1900.

There will be a few familiar names in the mix, but my goal is to spotlight the ones who have been truly lost to the ages.

About the name!

“Scribblewit” was an English phrase thought to originate in the 1600s.

It describes a writer of lighthearted poetry and prose (male, of course).

For example...

In a book from 1720, the narrator is a scribblewit who writes:

“all sorts of Pamphlets, Letters of Controversy, Answers and Replies, Poems, Satires, Libels, Lampoons, Songs, Ballads, Essays, Travels, Voyages, Novels and Romances."

I’m so excited to give these ladies the attention they deserve.

And I hope it's inspiring for all of us women out here trying to make our living being funny.

We’re not doing this in isolation.

We're part of something bigger.

A long legacy of laughter.

Anyway, the first edition will be on Thurs, Jan 2.

I’ll tag the first post of each thread with #scribblewits so it’s easy to find.

Help me spread the word! The more eyes on these witty women, the better.

Love, your self-appointed her-storian,
Bizzy