Antedating of "Yada Yada"

[Brenda Lester]

I found a yada-yada variant in the movie SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955).
If memory serves me, it was "yadata-yadata" (Tom Ewell).
 
bl
 


--- On Fri, 5/23/08, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:

From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "Yada Yada"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date: Friday, May 23, 2008, 4:01 PM

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Antedating of "Yada Yada"
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The OED's first use of "yada yada" and its variants is a1967 from
Lenny Bruce.  The site phrases.org.uk has earlier evidence, citing "an
August 1948 edition of the Long Beach Independent":

"Yatata ... yatata ... the talk is all about Chatterbox, Knox's own
little Tomboy Cap with the young, young come-on look!"

Presumably the precise citation could be found by searching Newspaperarchive.

Fred Shapiro

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