siditty etymology? BE for feeling superior(1967)

[Wilson Gray]

Well, IMO, that's not totally implausible. For example, my mother
pronounces "towards" as [twadz]. I may be wrong, but [twadz] is a way
less-than-obvious alternate pronunciation of [tordz].

AFAIK, the stress in "siddity" - or however one wants to spell it - is
always on the middle syllable.

Slight;y OT: I saw an ad in which "diddley" is used as a synonym of
"nothing." FWIW, I've always known this word as "doodley," shortened
from "doodley-squat." Way back in the day, there was a song that had
the following call-and-response:

C: My gal is red-hot!
R: Yo' gal ain't doodley-squat!

This song was in origin R&B, but the version that's usually played on
oldies shows is the rock-a-billy cover. Uh, since I'm not trying to go
anywhere with this, I'll just stop.

-Wilson Gray

On Jul 10, 2005, at 7:08 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: siditty etymology? BE for feeling superior(1967)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> My best guess (only a guess) is that "siddity" may be derived from
> "conceited"/"conceity" in the sense "proud"/"stuck-up"/"vain". There
> may or
> may not have been a form "conceitedy" or so. The final appearance of
> the
> last part of the word (with "t") might or might not be influenced by
> comparable "uppity", "biggity".
>
> [DARE doesn't show this sense of the adjective "conceity", but MW3 and
> SND
> show it.]
>
> [The stress in "siddity" is apparently variable, which isn't much
> help.]
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>