# "She's a Betty"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shes-a-betty/631980>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 19, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shes-a-betty/631980 "2012-08-19T16:52:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shes-a-betty/631980/21 "2012-08-21T14:07:14Z")

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> [@kayaker](#):
>
> I remember a guy who, when he saw an attractive female, would say, “Helllooooo, Betty!”.
> 
> No idea where it came from.

In high school a classmate would see an attractive female and say, ‘Oh, _Emma!_’

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shes-a-betty/631980/22 "2012-08-21T15:06:32Z")

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> [@Telemark](#):
>
> From [http://www.jasa.net.au/study/cslang.htm:](http://www.jasa.net.au/study/cslang.htm:)
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > 1. a Betty = a gorgeous woman-- perhaps timeless. This derives from the 1930s and 40s film star Betty Grable. She was the original ‘pin-up’ girl. Thousands of soldiers in World War II had pictures of her to ‘pin-up’ in their Barracks. She had particularly beautiful legs. Part of her fame was associated with the fact that she had her legs insured for $1million - a lot more money in the 1940s than it is today.
> 
> Not sure of the veracity of that cite, I also associate it with surf culture.

FWIW there was a bit on CBS Sunday Morning this week about the Betty Club in Nebraska ([NYT article from 1998](http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/28/us/a-club-where-everyone-is-on-a-first-name-basis.html)) and they mentioned the above definition in the story.

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**Author:** ![ecoaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@ecoaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecoaster)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shes-a-betty/631980/23 "2012-08-21T15:16:29Z")

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In my high school (the late 90s) people called a hot girl a “bitty/bittie”, not sure if this is derived from Betty but [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=biddie) sure has a lot to say on the matter…

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