"saditty" (snobbish) from "Saturday"?

Cohen, Gerald Leonard gcohen at MST.EDU
Mon Jul 28 14:36:18 UTC 2008


Barry Popik once sent me a photocopy of a page from the NY Amsterdam News (Nov. 23, 1935, p. 13); it was in connection with "The Big Apple", but I also noticed "Satiddy", which I assume is "Saturday." The left column was cut off slightly, and so the context is: "1-0-1 Club packing to Notre Dame-[left column] to S.R.O. Satiddy nite gone."

This "Satiddy" is so close (at least in spelling) to "saditty" that I'm tempted to revisit "saditty" with "Saturday" in mind.  The original context would have something to do with getting all dressed up for going out on Saturday night.
Maybe a woman who was always dressed to the nines might have been described by her less-well-dressed up acquaintances as looking "like a Satiddy (saditty) ho."  Or something along this line.

As for the pronunciation, suh-DITT-eh, perhaps this is merely an altered form.  Southern speech often stresses the first syllable (e.g., PO-lice, IN-surance), whereas Northern speech stresses the second one (po-LEESE, in-SUR-ance).  So maybe an original "SAT-iddy" (> SAD-itty) was transformed on Northern soil to sa-DITT-ee.

    My main question now: Is there any evidence of "saditty" (snobbish) being pronounced with initial stress anywhere in the U.S.?

Gerald Cohen
P.S. Btw, my e-mail address is now gcohen at mst.edu (due to the change of my institution's name to Missouri University of Science and Technology).  My former e-mail address (gcohen at umr.edu), still an option for a few days, will be entirely phased out on July 31.

* * * * * * *

Date:         Wed, 20 Jul 2005 14:14:23 -0500
Reply-To:     American Dialect Society
Sender:       American Dialect Society Mailing List
From:         "Mullins, Bill"
Subject:      Re: siditty, saditty (1963), siddity (1965)




suh-DIT-eh

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 2:13 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: siditty, saditty (1963), siddity (1965)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <[log in to unmask]>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      Re: siditty, saditty (1963), siddity (1965)
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> >No, it sounded clearly like "saditty", and the
> closed-captioning agreed.
> >
>
> With what stress?  If it's antepenult, I certainly can't
> detect any huge difference in how "SADitty" and "SADurday"
> would sound, especially with a non-rhotic pronunciation of
> the latter.  But if it's stressed in another way, there's no
> possibility of confusion, even without the support of the
> closed-captioning.
>
> Larry
>
> >  > -----Original Message-----
> >>  From: American Dialect Society
> >>  [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Smith
> >>  Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 2:04 PM
> >>  To: [log in to unmask]
> >>  Subject: Re: siditty, saditty (1963), siddity (1965)
> >>
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>  -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <[log in to unmask]>
> >>  Poster:       James Smith <[log in to unmask]>
> >>  Subject:      Re: siditty, saditty (1963), siddity (1965)
> >>  --------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  -----------------
> >>
> >>  Could this be simply 'Saturday Whore'?
> >>
> >>  --- "Mullins, Bill"  wrote:
> >>
> >>  > I mentioned last week that I saw the movie "Barbershop 2", in
> >> which  > Eddie calls his ex-girlfriend a "saditty ho".  My wife's
> >> reaction was  > that "saditty" meant "sadistic", which would have
> >> been appropriate  > under the circumstances.
> >>  >
> >>
> >>
> >>  James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
> >>  South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
> >>  [log in to unmask]     |whether we act quickly
> and decisively
> >>                                 |or slowly and cautiously.
> >>

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