"None too shabby" (1952); MTA, SoDeWha, WhaTHDIW

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

I'm back at Kinko's. I've gotta check out Vince Carter's stats on nba.com.

I did some preliminary work on "tikka masala" (yes OED has 1975) and tried to check out the recent Oxford book, DICTIONARY OF INDIAN FOOD. It was stolen/missing from the NYPL. So I went to NYU, where it's taken out, due in February.

NOTHING comes easy! It all started when I took the bar exam, and they lost it, and I had to take it again...

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NONE TOO SHABBY

Ben Zimmer, who's taking away the antedating business from me and Fred, had posted this (even adding the cool word "litotic"):


>OED3 has 1975 for the litotic phrase "not (too) shabby".


>Great Bend (Kansas) Daily Tribune, Apr 22, 1969, p. 6
>The Black Panthers' 880-yard relay quartet of Bruce Huss, >Jim Greene, Bob
>Oliver and Robinson grabbed another first in the not-too->shabby time of
>1:32.3.

>(Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) Daily Tribune, Nov 12, 1969, >p. 7
>But Coatta said Wisconsin's passing game was not too shabby.


That was not too shabby. But it was not "none too shabby." Not that I know many shabby nuns.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
WORKSHOP GEAR SURE TO PLEASE HOBBYIST HUBBY; Wives Finding Gift Tools Key to His Heart
HAROLD SMITH. Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963). Chicago, Ill.: Jan 13, 1952. p. SW_A3 (1 page):
To one of our ironmonger friends we reported the news that a woman of our acquaintance had received from her husband as a birthday gift a complete amateur carpenter's tool kit, which she appeared to treasure over the none too shabby fur coat she got for Christmas.

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MTA, SoDeWha, WhaTHDIW

>From the New York Sun, 17 December 2004, pg. 14, col. 1, "Daily Candy" (www.dailycandy.com):

Acronym for the bautiful-and-confused circa 1999: MTA (model-turned-actress). Acronym for the beautiful-and-confused circa 2004: SoDeWha (socialite-designer-whatever).
(...)
Most important, the WhaTHDIW (What the Heck Do I Wear?).