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

[Shapiro, Fred]

When I searched, I saw the "Dicty Doo" citations, but I wasn't sure whether that was an unrelated coincidental term.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake <00001a89b77a7850-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, June 6, 2025 9:14 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Dicty" (Adjective and Noun)

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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-barre-daily-times-when-the-dictie-do%2F173979426%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C06c476a6d2e54c53e6b708dda560cbba%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638848557354795456%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uCMR%2FwY%2F0yO491CJfv4J%2FM6plNce1M%2FDS%2BAcMPCpHgU%3D&reserved=0]<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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-boston-globe-dicty-doos-2151905%2F173979056%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C06c476a6d2e54c53e6b708dda560cbba%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638848557354817296%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Kf23J6ZFLFiYaayl7eahVFyrNYn%2BGYKAHVzePyElA0o%3D&reserved=0]<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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-post-intelligencer-dicty-doo-7319%2F173979142%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C06c476a6d2e54c53e6b708dda560cbba%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638848557354831097%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=lNmx9kFbXdgMW008MZrZRvHu43dd0BQZfZrXoXfNEEU%3D&reserved=0]<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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-anderson-herald-de-dicty-doos-911%2F173979210%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C06c476a6d2e54c53e6b708dda560cbba%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638848557354844462%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=VqyjUG4Dghy95HPK9OK%2FE9PoZsaZ27DfEhWLVLX8eN8%3D&reserved=0]<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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