Antedating of "Yada Yada"

[Sam Clements]

And, the Maven's Word of the Day discussed the variants as early as 1997.

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970922

Sam Clements

From: "Benjamin Zimmer" <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 4:12 PM
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Yada Yada"


> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org