saditty, hincty + dicty

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I grew up hearing "hincty" - the term favored by my mother,
b.1914 in Longview, TX - and "dicty" at home. I learned "siditty" on
the street in St. Louis during the '40's. As a consequence, until this
thread began, I'd never put "siditty" into the same class as the other
two. OTOH, sixty years is plenty (of) time for a minor shift in usage
to occur!

BTW, is anyone else familiar with the phrases, "get/have (one's) habits
on" and "get beside oneself" (sic; *not* to be confused with, e.g. the
sE "beside oneself with anxiety") said of, or even to, someone who's
acting above his station?

-Wilson Gray

On Jul 23, 2005, at 11:16 AM, Barbara H Hudson wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara H Hudson <bhhudson at AUXMAIL.IUP.EDU>
> Subject:      saditty, hincty + dicty
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>  From my research on African American female language:
>
>         Closely associated with the "proper" are the set of adjectives
> that follow.  The have one thing in common:  they can de defined as a
> social commentary (negative)about another person or persons.  The
> three words are hincty, dicty, and saditty (spelled different ways).
> Roughly translated all of the them mean "snobbish" "stuck up" or
> "thinking one is better than someone else"  All of the examples below
> come from later works.  The speakers are adult females.
>
> The words in CAPS ARE MY COMMENTS TO THE LIST
>
>         4.  Hincty, that's why.  Comes from handling money all day.
> (Morrison, Jazz, 19)  SAID OF A WOMAN
>
>          5.  an eye on these hincty misbehaving brats (Shange, Betsey,
> 187) SPOKEN BY A WOMAN WHO TOOK CARE OF SPOILED MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN
> AMERICAN CHILDREN
>
>          6.  like dicty whores (Guy, Measure, 109)  A WOMAN'S
> DESCRIPTION OF DOLLS THAT WERE DRESSED IN EXPENSIVE BUT GAUDY CLOTHES
>
>          7.  like them sadditty kids at school (Williams, 49)
>
>          8.  Surely you could put that ciddity [saditty]old woman
> down. (Shange, Betsey 187)
>
> Barbara Hill Hudson
> http://www.africanamericanfemalecommunication.com
>