[Ads-l] Antedating of "Hissy Fit"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I don't have ready access to this source, but Google Books seems to indicate that "hissy fit" (OED 1967) appeared in an obscure periodical, "Contrasts,  Presents Tomorrow's Authors," in 1939.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2026 11:19
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: hissy (1932), hissy fit (1943)

Great work, Dave. Here is "having a hissy" with the desired sense in April 1931.

Date: April 7, 1931
Newspaper: The American Statesman
Newspaper Location: Austin, Texas
Article: Town Talk: Serious and Frivolous Facts About Folks Hereabouts
Quote Page 4, Column 8
Database: Newspapers.com
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Faustin-american-statesman-hissy%2F206617378%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cd18c06bf570b4af6d27008df1a4f4185%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639258599852347426%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=J%2B9ia%2BiK7k3kMB7SoIDaoJ63zVZD%2FJ9VkhHfATjdgVI%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman-hissy/206617378/>

[Begin excerpt]
And another letter from J. W. Reid Jr., which I'll have to get to
later as I'm running late and Ed Davenport will be having a hissy
about getting in the editorial page on time.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Sep 24, 2026 at 10:26 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
>
> OED has 1934 for "hissy" (quoting DARE quoting American Speech) and 1967 for "hissy fit."
>
> J. M. V. “Back Talk.” Seminole Producer (Seminole, Oklahoma), 2 December 1932, 2/3. Newspaper.com. (The page is labeled “Two,” but is the eighth page. There seems to be a missing section designation as page numbering restarts with the seventh page, which contains a full-page ad and no page number.)
>
> "It might interest the 'Pore Old Prorated Oil Field Boy' to know that two city people threw a 'hissy' over his letter, calling down the wrath of all the gods there be on his anonymous head."
>
>
> “The Windjammer” News-Review (Oklahoma City), 25 November 1943, 2/2. Newspapers.com.
>
> Rev. Mathes thinks some of the old shell-backs that have hissy fits every time the younger generation have a good time have the same complex as those old timers who stoned the prophets and burned the witches in Salem. They also forget that they used to kick their heels pretty high when they were young.
>
>
> I also found many older newspaper uses of "hissy" to mean, I presume, "hissed," as in, "John hissy 'X.'"


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