[lit-ideas] Re: The arrogance of Americans and Marlene Dietrich
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 17:59:52 -0700
Lawrence wrote
After posting my note I realized I had made a mistake in it. I was only
six when World War II broke out and so even less likely to know what
“ty-ty” means. Maybe Robert Paul who is much older and wiser will
know. If I had to guess, I would say it might be a contraction of
“hoity-toity.” The sense of what you quoted would permit hoity-toity –
sort of.
I think Lawrence's suggestion is right: 'hoity-toity,' and
'highty-tighty' pick out the same concept, although 'hoity-toity' now
seems to be the preferred spelling. It isn't hard to see 'ty ty' as a
weird regional variant of the latter. Despite my age and innocence, I've
never heard an American say 'ty ty' to mean either hoity-toity or
highty-tighty (or to mean anything, for that matter). When I saw the
expression in David's post, I thought of Nöel Coward. Don't ask me why.
Both these hyphenated expressions seem to mean 'arrogant and aloof,' so
I'm not clear why they would be used to explain why Dietrich's looks
were disappointing.
Robert Paul
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