nitty-gritty

[Laurence Horn]

Ah, right up there with "picnic".  Has snopes.com been alerted?  This appears designed to confirm the OED's statement that while n-g may be a reduplicated form of "gritty", "Other etymologies have been suggested but do not appear to be supported by any firm evidence."  

But if "nittygritty" really does derive from 'the state of a naked unwashed slave', I wonder what that tells us about the true meaning of "Nitty Ditty Nitty Gritty Great Bird" (the variant version of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band" cited by George W. Bush a while back).
  
LH

On Dec 12, 2011, at 3:01 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>> From another website:
> 
> "Nittygritty is the state of a naked unwashed slave so is now
> considered politically incorrect and racist."
> 
> JL
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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