Word Confusion: Bat versus Batt

Posted January 13, 2022 by Kathy Davie in Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

I’m a quilter. I take exception to writers who use bat to refer to the interior filling of a quilt.

And it turns out that, dagnabit, it is acceptable to use bat.

I still don’t like it, as its proper name is batting — yes, batt is short for batting, but . . . there you go. People will do as they will.

Of course, you don’t see people calling sheets of insulation bats . . . I’d think they were referring to bats having gotten up in the attic.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Bat	Batt
Construction of a Louisville Slugger is 7mike5000‘s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A fascinating look at the stages of constructing a bat.	Pros and Cons of Different Insulation Types is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, courtesy of Able Roof.com. — Batts of insulation are easy to handle.
Part of Grammar:
Noun ¹, ², ³, ⁴; Verb ¹, intransitive & transitive ⁵ Plural for the noun and third person present verb: bats Past tense or past participle: batted Gerund or present participle: batting	Short for batting Noun Plural: batts
Noun: [Sports] An implement with a handle and a solid surface, usually of wood, used for hitting the ball in games such as baseball, cricket, badminton, and table tennis ¹ The person batting, especially in cricket Each of a pair of objects resembling table tennis bats, used by a person on the ground to guide a taxiing aircraft A whip used by a jockey The act of using a club or racket in a game The right or turn to use a club or racket A heavy stick, club, or cudgel A blow, such as one delivered with a stick [Games; Australian] A small board used for tossing the coins in the game of two-up [Slang; US, Canadian] A spree A binge [Ceramics] A plaster disk on which the clay is based in modeling A mainly nocturnal mammal capable of sustained flight, with membranous wings that extend between the fingers and connecting the forelimbs to the body and the hindlimbs to the tail ² [Derogatory; usually old bat] A woman regarded as unattractive or unpleasant ³ [British] Rate of speed ⁴ Verb, intransitive: [Of a team or a player in sports such as baseball] Take in turns the role of hitting rather than fielding ¹ [Sports] To strike at the ball with the bat To take one’s turn as a batter To strike or swipe as though with a bat [Slang] To rush [Slang] To wander about aimlessly Verb, transitive: [Adverbial of direction] Hit at (someone or something) with the palm of one’s hand ¹ To strike or hit with or as if with a bat or club [Baseball] To have a batting average of Hit [Informal] To discuss or consider at length Flutter (one’s eyelashes or eyelids), typically in a flirtatious manner ⁵	[Textiles] Cotton, woolen, or polyester wadding prepared in sheets for use in quilts, mattresses, etc. A piece of felted material used for lining or insulating items such as quilts and sleeping bags A piece of fiberglass used to insulate buildings
Examples:
Noun: Throw me the aluminum bat. He dropped the bat and ran the bases. Gliders were retrieved to the launch point by 15cwt Bedford trucks and instructions to the winch driver, a thousand yards away, were given by semaphore bats. “Jockey bats are an extension of the rider’s hand, and are designed to cue the horse to action” (Jockey). Henry was the team’s opening bat. You’re next at bat. A cricket bat has a narrow handle and a broad flat end for hitting. The bartender kept a heavy bat behind the counter. Ooh, that’s quite a bat you got. Who’s got a bat for a game of two-up? They went at a fair bat. Don is seeing mice after his bat of drugs and alcohol. Pottery bats come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and materials and are extremely handy for lifting a thrown pot off the wheel. The large tropical fruit bats (suborder Megachiroptera) generally have good eyesight and feed mainly on fruit. She’s some deranged old bat. Verb, intransitive: Ruth came to bat in the fifth inning. He batted the ball high into the air. The cat batted at the toy. I have to bat out a term paper before class. He batted around the countryside for a few months. Verb, transitive: He batted the flies away. She batted her long dark eyelashes at him. When he told me what he’d done, I didn’t bat an eye. Hill took the bet without batting an eyelid. He batted .325 in spring training. The women batted the idea around for a few days. I doubt he has a job — he’s been batting around out West for a while now.	The quilt top was basted together along with the batt and backing. I prefer a wool batt for my more traditional quilts. Katie leaves out the usual batt and uses polar fleece for both batting and backing on baby quilts. Synthetic batts have a number of good points for insulating a sleeping bag, including being cheaper, more forgiving of temperature extremes, easier to care for, works when wet, more breathable, and it doesn’t separate like down. The vapor barrier might be tar paper, kraft paper attached to fiberglass batts, or a plastic sheet. A fiberglass batt may be itchy to handle, but it’s also easier to use.
Derivatives:
Abbreviation: bat. (battalion, battery) Adjective: batlike Noun: batter, batting
Phrasal Verb
bat about bat around bat around something bat for bat for someone bat out bat something around
History of the Word:
Late Old English batt meaning club, stick, staff, perhaps partly from the Old French batte, from battre meaning to strike. Late 16th century, as an alteration, perhaps by association with the medieval Latin batta, blacta, of the Middle English bakke, which is of Scandinavian origin. From bat, a slang term for prostitute or from battleaxe. Probably from batter, spree. Late 19th century from US dialect bat meaning to wink, blink, a variant of the obsolete bate meaning to flutter.	Of unknown origin, it was first recorded in 1605–15, bat + -ing, in the general sense lump, piece.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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