tighty-whitey

[Alice Faber]

Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
> my latest Language Log posting --
>   http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001992.html
> -- takes up "tighty-whitey" (and "whitey-tighty") vs. "tidy-whitey".
> anyone have any datings on this one?  (it's not in the obvious places.)
>
> arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

I first encountered the term (with Ts all around) on usenet in the late
90s. Googling usenet groups shows a few instances prior to 1996. The
earliest
<http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.amiga.advocacy/msg/9d9dd2ced69ecd5b?dmode=source>,
from 1993, provides an explanation of the term, suggesting that the
writer thought readers might not be familiar with it.

--

AF