Dittlers and dits

Fri Mar 28 11:18:40 UTC 2008

By the time you get to "tiddly," you are creeping up on US
"diddley-(squat, shit)" = "worthless, meaningless, next to nothing,"
perhaps from a size association. (That ain't worth diddley. I don't
give a diddley.), but DARE does not show any regional distribution
for it, although it shows "doodley-(squat, shit)" as chiefly South
and South Midland. When I say "doodley" here in Michigan (Your
dissertation ain't worth doodley"), my local students always correct
me to "diddley." (Course, it don't make their dissertations worth no
more.)

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Lynne Murphy <m.l.murphy at SUSSEX.AC.UK>
>Subject:      Re: Dittlers and dits
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>This looks like it could be related to Scots (and perhaps more general
>northern) English _tiddler_, which means a small fish--presumably one you'd
>throw back if you caught it (maybe it says this in DARE, but my copy's at
>the office, and I'm not).  From this comes the BrE dialectal adjective
>_tiddly_ meaning small, which I found is applied a lot to premature babies,
>as is _diddy_, which is northern BrE, and again looks like your word...
>
>These words were mentioned on my blog here:
>http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/01/baby-talk-introducing-grover.html
>
>Are they're related or is there some sound symbolism at work here?  I've
>heard "/I/ = 'small'", but not "alveolar stop = 'small'".  Or are they all
>coincidental baby-talkish variations on _little_?
>
>Lynne
>
>--On Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:53 am -0400 "Baker, John"
><JMB at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
>
>>          Not known to me from growing up and raising chickens in Adair
>>  County, Kentucky, two counties northwest of Wayne County.
>>
>>
>>  John Baker
>>
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>>  Of Grant Barrett
>>  Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:24 AM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Dittlers and dits
>>
>>  The fellow below submitted the following to the American Dialect Society
>>  web site a while back. I sent him an email asking if he'd like to be on
>>  my radio show. He said yes and his second email follows the first below.
>>
>>  I found one other use of it so far, in Urban Dictionary of all places:
>>
>>  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dittler
>>
>>  Otherwise, I've found no use of it elsewhere in the usual databases and
>>  web sites. Does anyone have anything on this? I've forwarded it to Joan
>>  Hall at DARE for the record.
>>
>>  Thanks,
>>
>>  Grant
>>
>>  Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>>  From: "J. Fred Calkins" <jfredcalkins at earthlink.net>
>>>  Date: November 25, 2007 13:21:05 EST
>>>  To: <woty at americandialect.org>
>>>  Subject: A regional word
>>>
>>>  When I moved into south eastern KY I discovered a dialectal word which
>>
>>>  has caused me great curiosity. Perhaps the American Dialect Society
>>>  can shed some light on the origins and extent of this particular word.
>>
>>>  'dit' or 'dittler' is the preferred word to refer to baby chickens or
>>>  other dry land domestic fowl. If referencing other than chicken the
>>>  tendency is to put a prefix on the word (turkey-dit). I have
>>>  determined this word to be normal in Bell, Harlan, and Letcher
>>>  counties. It is understood in Wayne, McCreary, Whitley, Knox, Clay and
>>
>>>  Leslie counties. It seems to be Normal in the western tip of Virginia
>>>  but fades when we get across the line into TN. I am curious how far
>>>  east it goes. Since the words are so entrenched in this segment of
>>>  Appalachian culture I am suspecting some Old World connections.
>>>  Alternatively it may come from the American Indians. If you can shed
>>>  any light on these terms I would be very grateful. Even though I grew
>>>  up calling baby chickens 'chicks' (in central Michigan) I have found
>>>  this an easy term to add to my vocabulary.  I did not even blink when
>  >> someone asked about my children with the phrase 'How are your dits?'
>>>  Perhaps you have some research or chronicling of this useful word.
>>>  Fred
>>
>>
>>>  From: "J. Fred Calkins" <jfredcalkins at earthlink.net>
>>>  Date: December 27, 2007 06:25:28 EST
>>>  To: Grant Barrett <gbarrett at worldnewyork.org>
>>>  Subject: Re: A regional word
>>>
>>>  Grant, you don't offer me a bit of insight to this interesting word
>>>  yet offer me an opportunity to discuss it on air. I am what we call in
>>
>>>  the mountains a preacher, I take any opportunity to talk I get. I do
>>>  try to keep to the subject but need to warn you that gospel idioms
>>>  thoroughly infect both my thoughts and words. It was, after all,
>>>  during my pastoral visitation rounds that I learned this word.
>>>  Another point of information you need to be aware of - the most common
>>
>>>  chickens in this area are game. The abhorrence of some toward that
>>>  'sport' is indicted by the laws against fighting chickens (there are
>>>  no laws against raising them). I serve a district of Seventh-day
>>>  Adventist churches, most of which are along the southern half of I-75
>>>  in Kentucky.
>>>
>>>  Have a great day,  Fred
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>Dr M Lynne Murphy
>Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
>Arts B135
>University of Sussex
>Brighton BN1 9QN
>
>phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
>http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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