grotty

[Jonathon Green]

Grotty, as in 'grotesque', was part of the mini-vocabulary ('fab', 'gear',
and 'swinging' were among the better known coevals) that emerged in the UK
c.1963 as what one could term the linguistic spinoff the Beatlemania. It was
etymologised, like everything seen as stemming from the 'Fab Four', as being
Liverpudlian in origin. Unsurprisngly the first OED cite is from what looks
to be a novelisation (1964) of the Beatles film 'Hard Day's Night'. I have
always assmed _grody/groady_, which seems to have come along with the early
1980s 'Valley Girls', to be a direct descendant. (Connie Eble, in _Slang and
Socialibility_, also suggests a Valley Girls origin for _grody_).

Jonathon Green