[Ads-l] Antedating of "Dicty" (Adjective and Noun)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

It's interesting that "dicty" and variants show up a bit earlier with
regard to song titles, group names of Black performers (or whites
performing as Blacks), and Black character names.

For example,

"When the Dictie Doos Come to Town" [Song title. The Barre (Vermont)
Daily Times, 4 June 1904, p. 1,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-barre-daily-times-when-the-dictie-do/173979426/]

Fully 600 members of the congregation and their friends were present
to enjoy a minstrel first-part, given by the Dicty Doos. ["By the
Dicty Doos," The Boston Globe, 15 February 1905, p. 5;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-dicty-doos-2151905/173979056/]

"Dicty Doo" [The name of a character in "The Hottest Coon in Dixie."
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3 July 1905, p. 9;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-post-intelligencer-dicty-doo-7319/173979142/]

SAPARO and BONNY. DE DICTY DOOS, The Best Colored People Before the
American Public. [A comedic duo, presumably in black-face. Anderson
(Indiana) Morning Herald, 1 September 1908, p. 2;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-anderson-herald-de-dicty-doos-911/173979210/]

On Fri, Jun 6, 2025 at 3:33 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> dicty (OED, n., 1916; adj., 1920)
>
> 1907 Advocate (Charleston, West Virginia) 2 May 1/6 (Newspapers.com)  The "dicty" naval officers ... are inclined to be "put out" over the prospect of having an officer of the black republic present.
>
> 1910 Bee (Washington, D.C.) 10 Dec. 4/5 (Newspapers.com)  Henry Lincoln resides somewhere in the Southwest ... as a result little is seen of him in the Northwest, where most of the "dicties" parade.
>
> Fred Shapiro

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