_Dittybopper_

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wilson, you got me trumped. I believe I had a single cite for the sense you
describe, possibly referring to the early 1960s. I doubt that the context
was the ASA, but can't say for sure.

Probably I collected it after Vol. 1 appeared in 1994.

Thanks for the informative note.

Believe it or not: Urban Dictionary.com has "diddy bopper" as a syn. of
"skeezer; slut," etc. and that's it.

JL

On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 11:14 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      _Dittybopper_
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This word, which is in HDAS with all of the other meanings that I know
> of, has another, long-obsolete meaning. In the old Army Security
> Agency, eliminated from the Army's "TO&E" in 1965, a "diddy- /
> dittybopper" was someone who dealt hands-on with some form of
> telegraphy: telegrapher, telegraphic-intercept operator, transcriber
> of intercepted telegraphic commo. My WAG is that this is based on the
> _dit-dah_ of telegraphy, with no connection to "diddy- / dittybopper"
> in any of its other meanings.
>
> Although I've never seen this use in the print medium, it's easily
> found on the Web on any ASA-alumni site. The old Agency had a kind of
> college-frat feel to it. Hence, there are several alumni sites. Since
> I was involved in voice intelligence and not signal intelligence, I
> first came across the word in this use on alumni sites. Hence, not
> even a WAG as to how old it is.
>
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> –Mark Twain
>
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