# yadda yadda origin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690 "2010-06-18T17:32:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/21 "2010-06-25T12:34:48Z")
I thought “yadda,yadda” was one of those long-enduring Jewish idioms. Are you saying it was only invented in our lifetime? Before I become disillusioned, I would like to hear from someone who is somewhat old(er) and VERY Jewish. A term this piquant must be properly backgrounded. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/22 "2010-06-25T19:58:31Z")
I always assumed it was related to ‘yada’, the Hebrew verb for “to know” (which I ‘yada’ due to its use in Genesis- X knew his wife and she bare Y, or the Sodomites wanting to know the angels). ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/23 "2010-06-28T09:21:09Z")
In **1971** , Dory Previn released an album _(Mythical Kings and Iguanas)_ that included a song titled, ‘Yada Yada La Scala’. Good Lord, and to think I used to actually listen _and_ get into to such wrist-slashing lyrics back then. 😃 Thank fuck I’ve gotten old and more cranky. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/24 "2010-06-28T12:29:20Z")
'Let’s stop talking, talking, talking, any lame excuse Justifying, alibying, listen: what’s the use? The sparrow chirps, the chipmunk chatters And we go on as mad as a hatter, and we go Yada yada, yada yada yada _yaaaadah’_. Nineteen seventy ONE folks. 🆒 Oh yes, I WAS cool back then. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/25 "2010-07-13T22:06:03Z")
I hearby proclaim that Mike Judge stole the term “bunghole” from me. Yes, LBJ did use it upon one occasion, but I was the first to use it as an insult when I was in grade school. Take my word for it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hank\_malloy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@hank\_malloy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hank_malloy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/26 "2011-03-13T20:29:45Z")
have one of the first FANTASY lp records that Lenny Bruce made, it was made out of red vinyl, and one of the “bits” he used on that LP was called something like A JAIL STORY, about prisoners in jail, planning an escape. the warden finds out about the “break” and tried to talk the prisoners out of trying to break out. At one point, Bruce yells, using a convicts’ voice,something like “yadda, yadda, yadda , warden, let us out or we’ll kill the kid”…something like that. i’m sure that YADDA remark was used in that record, which dates from the late 1950’s…about '58 or '59. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/27 "2011-03-14T09:40:07Z")
> [@phillip\_leslie](#): > > I didn’t know about the lenny bruce connection until early 80’s when talking with richard cory They say he owns one half of this here town. > [@ftg](#): > > Google’s Usenet archive goes back to 1981. The uptick in average people using the Internet didn’t affect Usenet since most of the newbies didn’t use Usenet. Very few of them even heard of it. What did the newbies use in 1995 then? Certainly not the Web, which hardly existed. Just email and ftp? I will admit that I did not get online until about 1995, initially from a Unix prompt, but even at that time Usenet was practically the only _fun_ thing on the Internet, and I discovered it pretty quickly. I would be surprised if 1992 newbies did not discover it very quickly too. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/28 "2011-03-14T13:02:11Z")
MODERATOR COMMENT: First, I want to welcome **hank malloy** to the Straight Dope Message Boards, we’re glad you’re here. Second, I want to note that **hank** posted yesterday (13 March 2011) and that the prior post was from July, 2010, so it’s been eight months. This is what we call a “zombie” thread, meaning that it’s been resurrected after a long sleep. That’s OK, I just want to make y’all aware of it. Some of the past posters may not be around any more, or may not be reading this thread, and so may not respond if you’re commenting on what they said a year or more ago. So, just be aware. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/29 "2011-03-15T00:01:21Z")
If the OP is who he claims to be, then he would be a brother of Susan Sarandon, the actress in the movie _The Client_ among many others. You would think that alone would be sufficient for anyone to desire some sort of distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/30 "2011-03-15T17:28:51Z")
> [@hank\_malloy](#): > > have one of the first FANTASY lp records that Lenny Bruce made, it was made out of red vinyl, and one of the “bits” he used on that LP was called something like > A JAIL STORY, about prisoners in jail, planning an escape. the warden finds out about the “break” and tried to talk the prisoners out of trying to break out. At one point, Bruce yells, using a convicts’ voice,something like “yadda, yadda, yadda , warden, let us out or we’ll kill the kid”…something like that. i’m sure that YADDA remark was used in that record, which dates from the late 1950’s…about '58 or '59. See post #3. This bit is available on CD (I listened to it again just a few days ago, great bit) and is from about that time. To add something new to the above, when Dutch starts saying “yadda yadda” to the Warden, the Warden responds with something like “don’t do that Louis Armstrong bit” - which makes me think there is a connection to jazz somehow. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/31 "2011-03-15T23:42:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > To add something new to the above, when Dutch starts saying “yadda yadda” to the Warden, the Warden responds with something like “don’t do that Louis Armstrong bit” - which makes me think there is a connection to jazz somehow. My guess is, he was referring to the song _ja da, ja da, ja da ja da jing jing jing_, and Armstrong did a version. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/33 "2011-04-04T05:40:57Z")
I did not invent the word “Duh” – it was how the character Moose in the old Archie comic books started every sentence – but I was the first one in our neighborhood to use it as a mocking insult. I beg your forgiveness. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/34 "2011-04-05T14:03:26Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > What did the newbies use in 1995 then? Certainly not the Web, which hardly existed. Just email and ftp? The web, indeed. And bulletin board systems, chat rooms, MUDs, and yes, e-mail. For 1992, which was the year mentioned previously, remove the web, but the others were still available. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/35 "2011-04-05T19:06:43Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > The web, indeed. And bulletin board systems, chat rooms, MUDs, and yes, e-mail. > > For 1992, which was the year mentioned previously, remove the web, but the others were still available. I was using Compuserve in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![phillip\_leslie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@phillip\_leslie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phillip_leslie)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/36 "2011-07-19T03:25:04Z")
i just wanted to remove the un from unknown found this site and it seemed like the place to do it.it was forty years ago this past spring that this yadda yadda came forth.both it and i have gone many places. if i had a nickel or maybe jerry and a few others five bucks . response 29 yes i have 5 sisters and three brothers . ---
**Author:** ![Chihhsing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Chihhsing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihhsing)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/37 "2012-01-28T18:36:57Z")
Any other account of the expression’s origin is nonsense yadda yadda. > **[Grammelot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammelot)** > > Grammelot (or gromalot or galimatias) /ˈɡræməlɒt/ is an imitation of language used in satirical theatre, an ad hoc gibberish that uses prosody along with macaronic and onomatopoeic elements to convey emotional and other meaning, and used in association with mime and mimicry. The satirical use of such a format may date back to the 16th century commedia dell'arte; the group of cognate terms\[clarification needed\] appears to belong to the 20th century. > In an essay entitled “L’art du grommelot”, Fre... ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/38 "2012-01-30T02:49:08Z")
I and a friend coined the use of NOT at the end of a sentence, oh, about 40 years ago or more. “I am the greatest football player in the school. NOT.” My post is my cite. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/39 "2012-01-30T17:10:39Z")
No explanation that neither antedates nor considers the use of “yatata yatata” in _Allegro_ (1947) can be taken seriously. And you can’t just say, “It’s from Grammelot,” without evidence. Heck, maybe it’s just an adopted bit of theatrical rhubarb. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/40 "2012-01-31T01:17:32Z")
> [@Chihhsing](#): > > Any other account of the expression’s origin is nonsense yadda yadda. > [Grammelot - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammelot) Your post is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/41 "2015-10-14T01:09:39Z")
(I know this is an old thread, yadda yadda zombies, etc.) I’m reading the book _The Egoist_ by George Meredith (written in 1879) and I noticed he used “ta-ta-ta-ta” where we might use “yadda yadda”: > [@](#): > > “You have told me that you wept to read of one: like him, then. My principles have not changed, if I have. When I was younger, I had an idea of a wife who would be with me in my thoughts as well as aims: a woman with a spirit of romance, and a brain of solid sense. I shall sooner or later dedicate myself to a public life; and shall, I suppose, want the counsellor or comforter who ought always to be found at home. It may be unfortunate that I have the ideal in my head. But I would never make rigorous demands for specific qualities. The cruellest thing in the world is to set up a living model before a wife, and compel her to copy it. In any case, here we are upon the road: the die is cast. I shall not reprieve myself. I cannot release her. Marriage represents facts, courtship fancies. She will be cured by-and-by of that coveting of everything that I do, feel, think, dream, imagine . . . **ta-ta-ta-ta** ad infinitum. Laetitia was invited here to show her the example of a fixed character—solid as any concrete substance you would choose to build on, and not a whit the less feminine.” > > “ **Ta-ta-ta-ta** ad infinitum. You need not tell me you have a design in all that you do, Willoughby Patterne.” Now obviously “ta-ta” is not quite the same as “yadda”, and who knows how the Victorians would have pronounced it. But _in my head_ it sounds like “yadda yadda”! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690.md?page=3)