Nitty-gritty (1947, 1948)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

In 1974, W. R. Higginbotham published a paper including his personal
recollections in "American Speech" (49[1-2]:90-101). He claims to recall
"nitty gritty" from the 1920's, and mentions its use in a joke in which the
sense (as best I understand it) was "something in the rectum". As I read
the piece he does not claim to know the true etymology. Citations are
presented only back to 1961.

-- Doug Wilson