Nitty-gritty (1947, 1948)

[Wilson Gray]

It's nice to be vindicated. Those with longer memories may recall that
one of my earliest postings on this listserv was the claim that I
remembered hearing the phrase, "get down to the real nitty-gritty"
ca.1944, when I was a grade-school kid in St. Louis. As I recall, this
claim was, at best, ignored, given the lack of documentation.

So, now, there is documentation that indicates that the term was in use
*_in print_ at least two years earlier* than I recall first hearing it
on the street. I understand and respect the need for documentation in
lexicography, especially when the topic is *historical*. Nevertheless,
I can't resist saying,

"See there?! I tolt y'all that!"

BTW, FWIW, in L.A. during the mid-'Fifties, it was possible to say,
"Don't get nitty-gritty," meaning, approximately, "Don't overstep the
bounds of good taste." In St. Louis, we used "Don''t get earthy" with
that meaning.

-Wilson Gray

On Jul 22, 2005, at 7:54 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Nitty-gritty (1947, 1948)
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>
> Fabulous.
>
> JL
>
> Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Fred Shapiro
> Subject: Re: Nitty-gritty (1947, 1948)
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>
> On Thu, 21 Jul 2005, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
>> _Richmond Afro American_ (Richmond VA), 25 Oct. 1947: p. 4(?):
>> <> education and democracy which only became more nebulous the closer
>> he got
>> to the nitty-gritty of actually putting them into practice.>>
>
> Here's earlier:
>
> nitty-gritty (OED 1952)
>
> 1942 _Phylon_ III. 338 The real "nitty gritty" is a poem in the "Lenox
> Avenue" section called "Shakespeare in Harlem."
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Fred R. Shapiro Editor
> Associate Librarian for Collections and YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
> Access and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale University Press,
> Yale Law School forthcoming
> e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu http://quotationdictionary.com
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