Different Strokes for Different Folks

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Nitsky!" was a ridiculous pseudo-Slavic expansion of "nit!" So "Auber
nitsky!" comes ultimately from "aber nichts!"

I suspect a vaudeville origin.

JL


On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 4:03 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Different Strokes for Different Folks
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 8:52 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > May 19, 1945
>
>
> That makes it almost as old as "nitty-gritty," popular since I was a child,
> during WWII. But, until the song, "Different Strokes" enjoyed a modicum of
> popularity in '67, I'd never heard "different strokes for different folks."
>
> FWIW, "get nitty-gritty" - minus the "down to the" - had the meaning,
> "exceed the bounds of the socially-acceptable," as did the expression, "get
> earthy."
>
> Whilechecking HDAS, I came across "auber nitsky." Ultimately from German
> "aber nichts," perhaps?
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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