FW: Antedating of "Yada Yada"

Baker, John JMB at STRADLEY.COM
Mon May 26 19:43:53 UTC 2008


        No, by "Jim Dandy" I meant the work of that name by William
Saroyan, previously referred to in this thread.  As far as I know,
LaVern Baker's song does not include "yada yada" or "yatata yatata."


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Wilson Gray
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 3:29 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: FW: Antedating of "Yada Yada"

You're not referring to the "Jim Dandy" by Lavern "Little Miss
Sharecropper" Baker, are you? I agree that in Sh-Boom, originally by The
Chords, a black group, ya-da-da, etc., was just noise. I've only very
recently heard "ya-da, ya-da" - within the past year - used in the wild
in the Seinfeldian sense by black speakers and nothing like it was used
in the past.

-Wilson

On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
-----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      FW: Antedating of "Yada Yada"
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> The difference is that in Sh-Boom these are just nonsense words, while

> = in the Allegro song and Jim Dandy "yatata yatata yatata" has the
> same = meaning as the modern "yada yada."
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of ronbutters at AOL.COM
> Sent: Fri 5/23/2008 9:03 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Antedating of "Yada Yada"
>
>
>
> "Shhh-Boom," a popular Crew Cuts (?) song of the early 1950s, had the
> = lyrics, "yadada yadada yadada yadada boom shi-boom, life could be a
> = dream, sweetheart!" (Who says rap lyrics are a sign that modern
> youth = are brain dead?)

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