Nitty-gritty redux

[Michael Quinion]

Douglas G. Wilson commented:

> >... along comes a nitty gritty gator in a cattle train ...
>
> But what does it mean?

Jonathon Green's slang dictionary provides the needed glosses:

gator = a person considered to be in the swing of things
cattle train = Cadillac

>From these, and a brief summary attached, it seems that at this point
the young lady of the story gets a ride in a car (the summary says it
is a new car). The implication would seem to be that "nitty gritty"
here is a term of approbation.

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>