ABSTRACT
Y is a crooked letter. A reply to children continually asking ‘Why?’: Aus. domestic: C20, from trad. UK, dating, I’d guess, from at least as early as mid C19. Y.T.Y.T.K. See TOMMY HANDLEY. yabbadabba doo! A cry of exultation, uttered by ‘Fred Fhntstone’ (the voice was that of Jackie Gleason: Ashley) in ‘The Flintstones’, ‘one of the most popular cartoon series in the history of television’ (W.Brasch, Cartoon Monickers, 1983). The series depicted current US suburban life translated back into a make-believe ‘Stone Age’, and was shown in many parts of the world: B.P. vouches for the c.p.’s use among Aus. surfers, and I for its popularity among British servicemen in Hong Kong, in the early 1960s. Cf hubba hubba! (P.B.) yacht(s). See: poor chap; what do you think this is. Yapton. See: were you. yard. See: I don’t want to play. Yarra, stinking Yarra! See: stinking Yarra! ye gods and little fishes! was, c. 1884-1912, a lower-and lower-middle-class indication of contempt; from c. 1912 until c. 1940, a gen. exclam. either of derision or of humour. So lofty a phrase found its humble level by way of ‘the Transpontine (or Surrey-side) Melodrama’ or, as Ware puts it, ‘mocking the theatrical appeal to the gods’. yea big, yea high is a US c.p.—‘a sophisticated fad phrase since c. 1955’ (W & F). Starting from the lit. ‘thus big or thus high’, indicated by the hands being spread laterally or raised, two contradictory senses derive: ‘very large or high, overwhelmingly large or tall’; and, with suitably modified gestures, ‘not very big or high’ (W & F). Some occ. use in UK, late 1960s-early 70s (P.B.). [yea(h), bo. Only doubtfully a c.p., of c. 1925-50; certainly two words, not one, as in a suggested derivation from the Zulu yebo, yes, which suggestion is simply incredible, since there is no likely channel through which a Zulu word could have reached the US-in 1925 or at any other time. (American Negroes originated in West Africa, 2000 miles from the Zulus.)
A far more plausible explanation is simply ‘Yeah, bo’, ‘the latter word…used in direct address to a man…[Perhaps] a contraction of boss, often used as a respectful term of address-e.g. by Negroes to Whites’ (R.C., 1978). The D. Am. proposes a shortening of bozo, perhaps from Span.; I think that it may come from Fr. beau. P.B.: or boy, or the old East Anglian bor…?] yeah, see you in a while, crocodile. See: see you later, alligator. yeah, you could shit a brick. Like hell you could!; Can.: since c. 1930. Suggested by the slangy shit a brick, to have an excessively hard stool after a long costive period. year(s). See: Christmas; first hundred; first seven; it’ll be all the same; it’s been a very; May bees; ole man; thirty five; who was your. yell. See: they don’t yell. yer blood’s worth bottling! An Aus. c.p., indicating either very warm approval or hearty congratulations: since c. 1950. Russell Braddon, in his Preface to the English ed. (1958) of They’re a Weird Mob (1957) has: To Nino Culotta, therefore, in thanks for this book, I say: “Thanks, mate. Yer blood’s worth bottling.”’ yer mother and father. See: your mother…. yes: a cat with two legs. A C18-20, by 1960 ob., domestic c.p.—the housewife’s traditional reply to an errant housemaid; beautifully exemplified in S, 1738, early in Dialogue I: LADY SM[ART]: Go, run Girl, and warm some fresh Cream. BETTY: Indeed, Madam, there’s none left, for the Cat has eaten it all. LADY SM: I doubt it was a Cat with two Legs.
