# Nitty-gritty: Which etymology is correct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2000, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitty-gritty-which-etymology-is-correct/36774 "2000-10-13T10:14:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitty-gritty-which-etymology-is-correct/36774/1 "2000-10-13T10:14:45Z")
I have heard of two origins for this term. The first says that the word was used by black Americans in the early part of this century to refer to the clitoris. The word gained wider usage after the R&B record “The Nitty-Gritty” was released in 1963. Here’s my cite: [http://whusfm.saup.uconn.edu/SoulExpress/soulbio3.htm](http://whusfm.saup.uconn.edu/SoulExpress/soulbio3.htm) The second says that the words refers to slave owners systematically raping the women and girls on a slave ship. By the time they got the the bottom of the ship, the slaves were nit-ridden and grit-covered. This one came from a police officer, who was told while on a course that the derivation of the word made it very offensive to the British black community. My UL detector is flashing wildly at the second one. Of course, if it’s a widely believed UL, then the word is still offensive. (q.v “squaw”) I’d like to know the correct origin of the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitty-gritty-which-etymology-is-correct/36774/2 "2000-10-13T12:46:17Z")
Here’s one origin, from [http://www.briggs13.fsnet.co.uk/book/n%20&%20o.htm](http://www.briggs13.fsnet.co.uk/book/n%20&%20o.htm) I don’t know the guy’s qualifications, but this does seem to be well researched. > [@](#): > > Nitty gritty: To get down to the nitty gritty of something is to get to its basics. The origin here is somewhat unpleasant and a little unexpected. It seems to derive from the nits found in unclean pubic hair plus the tiny, gritty pieces of dried faeces found in unwashed peri-anal hair. > The Dictionary of Popular Phrases (see Appendix) says: “Let’s get down to the (real) nitty-gritty”. Idiom. Meaning, ‘let’s get down to the real basics of a problem or situation’ (like getting down to brass tacks). Sheilah Graham, the Hollywood columnist, in her book Scratch an Actor (1969) says of Steve McQueen: ‘Without a formal education - Steve left school when he was fifteen - he has invented his own vocabulary to express what he means. . His “Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty” has gone into the American language.’ All she meant, I feel, is that McQueen popularized the term, for it is generally held to be a Negro phrase and was talked about before the film star came on the scene. It seems to have had a particular vogue among Black Power campaigners c1963, and the first OED Supp. citation is from that year. In 1963, Shirley Ellis recorded a song ‘The Nitty Gritty’ to launch a new dance (like ‘The Locomotion’ before it). The opening line of the record is, ‘Now let’s get down to the real nitty-gritty’. Stuart Berg Flexner (Listening to America, 1982) comments: ‘It may have originally referred to the grit-like nits or small lice that are hard to get out of one’s hair or scalp or to a Black English term for the anus.’ With a date of around 1963, it’s unlikely the slave ship origin is true. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitty-gritty-which-etymology-is-correct/36774/3 "2000-10-13T13:36:32Z")
The origin I heard was that it was of Black origin, but did not refer to the clitoris, but to the innermost reaches of the vagina. I seem to recall having read that there were some old ribald Black blues sort of songs in the early-to-mid 1900s with the word “nitty-gritty” in the title, but I don’t know any off-hand. Lyrics in those songs might provide a much better clue.