[Ads-l] Antedating of "Diddly Squat" and "Doodly Squat"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is an instance of 'didly squat" in a New York Newspaper in 1909.
The passage is written using eye dialect.
Perhaps this instance is based on "diddly" meaning "insignificant,
trifling" and "squat" meaning "short and thick-set".

Date: June 13, 1909
Newspaper: The Sun
Newspaper Location: New York, New York
Article: More Work For Pete Douw
Quote Page 8, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-herald-didly/182466594/

[Begin excerpt]
It was not unly this horrible revival of
Pete Douw his mark nor the sinse that
that didly squat figure might be lurking
shadderlike, persistent on me trail, but
more, far more, it was the clammy grip
of the handcuff on me wrist that rattled
me. True for the wanst I was bound to
wan whom I was to take care of instid of
to wan who wud take care of me; still
there was the same old formiliar feeling
of being cart in a trap for the amused
contimpt of all mankind and the rist of
thim.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 11:02 AM Ben Zimmer
<00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Thanks for these great cites, Fred. I wrote about "doodly/diddly squat" in
> a Strong Language post in 2023:
>
> https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2023/04/29/your-gal-aint-doodly-squat/
>
> I did mention the 1949 "diddley squat" example in my post, but the 1925
> cite for "doodly squat" is new to me and does call into question the idea
> that the expression might have originated in central Florida as documented
> by Zora Neale Hurston.
>
> --Ben
>
> On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 10:23 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > doodly squat (OED 1934)  1925 Stanly News-Herald (Albemarle, N.C.) 1 Sept
> > 1/3 (Newspapers.com)  Grover Thompson known as "Doodly Squat," will play
> > drums in the orchestra.
> >
> > diddly squat (OED 1963)  1949 Miami Herald 16 Feb. 7-D/2 (Newspapers.com)
> > Now, with regard to the keys, we have no alibi.  Stamding entirely on our
> > own, we didn't do woth a diddley squat.
> >
> > NOTE: Ben Zimmer has written that "doodly squat" originated in African
> > American usage.  I am not sure that the citations bear this out.
> > Regardless of how it originated, "doodly squat" chas been used extensively
> > by African Americans.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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