# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [October 15, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/42 "2015-10-15T19:51:29Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > (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”: > 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”! That’s stretching it. Perhaps the ta-ta came from a baby’s da-da-da babble. Now, about blah blah at the beginning of this old thread, in one of Bruce’s last bits he talked about his obscenity trial where a judge or lawyer or cop used blah blah for all the supposedly dirty words Bruce used. **samclem** ’s pointer to the Louis Armstrong cover seems a reasonable origin of yada yada to me. It’s something Bruce would have definitely known. ---
**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 16, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/43 "2015-10-16T03:05:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That’s stretching it. Perhaps the ta-ta came from a baby’s da-da-da babble. Well, obviously “ta-ta-ta-ta” is an onomatopoeia for generic talking noises. So is “yatata yatata” or “yadda yadda”. So is [“bar bar”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian#Etymology), for that matter. ---
**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 4, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/44 "2016-01-04T17:59:48Z")
I just heard “Ya-ta-ta ya-ta-ta ya-ta-ta!” in _The Doughgirls_, 1944. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/45 "2016-01-04T18:09:48Z")
I just wanted to let everyone know that I was the first to say, “Way!” in response to someone else saying “No way!” ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/46 "2016-01-04T18:13:54Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > I just heard “Ya-ta-ta ya-ta-ta ya-ta-ta!” in _The Doughgirls_, 1944. Another usage from about the same time: in May 1945, Bing Crosby and Judy Garland had a Top 10 hit with a novelty song called “Ya-Ta-Ta Ya-Ta-Ta (Talk, Talk, Talk).” In the song, Judy discusses her latest shopping spree only to have Bing interrupt and complain “all of your ya-ta-ta, ya-ta-ta, talk, talk, talk.” Later, Bing talks about his golf game and gets the same response from Judy. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/47 "2016-01-04T18:18:20Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I just wanted to let everyone know that I was the first to say, “Way!” in response to someone else saying “No way!” No way! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690/48 "2016-01-04T20:21:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No way! Way! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yadda-yadda-origin/543690.md?page=2)