Antedating of "Yada Yada"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 4:01 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> The OED's first use of "yada yada" and its variants is a1967 from Lenny Bruce.
> The site phrases.org.uk has earlier evidence, citing "an August 1948 edition
> of the Long Beach Independent":
>
> "Yatata ... yatata ... the talk is all about Chatterbox, Knox's own little
> Tomboy Cap with the young, young come-on look!"
>
> Presumably the precise citation could be found by searching Newspaperarchive.

OED has pre-Bruce variants in the etymology section of "yada yada":

----
1949 Sat. Evening Post 27 Aug. 98/4 ‘Back-seat flying,’ Mike would grumble.
‘Always the yaddega-yaddega from the back seat’.
1950 Time 30 Oct. 100/3 Though Right Cross's ring scenes are pretty well staged,
it is a boxing picture with too much yatata and not enough sock.
1956 Holland (Mich.)Evening Sentinel 4 Feb. 6/6 (caption) You heard about her
husband, didn't you? He won a trip to Bermuda... Well, he didn't tell her, and
yattata-yattata.
----

But 1948 still predates those.

--Ben Zimmer

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