Hoiti-toiti

Question

as far as i can remember this means 'playful'. Can anyone confirm the meaning of the word. Also what is the correct spelling as i cant seem to find it in any of the dictionaries with the above spelling

thanx

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]as far as i can remember this means 'playful'. Can anyone confirm the meaning of the word. Also what is the correct spelling as i cant seem to find it in any of the dictionaries with the above spelling[/nq]
Use www.m-w.com and the correct spelling.
Main Entry: 2hoity-toity
Function: adjective

1 : thoughtlessly silly or frivolous : FLIGHTY
2 : marked by an air of assumed importance : HIGHFALUTIN

Skitt (in SF Bay Area)
... information is gushing toward your brain like a fire hose aimed at a teacup. Dogbert

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]as far as i can remember this means 'playful'. Can ... it in any of the dictionaries with the above spelling[/nq]
[nq:1]Use www.m-w.com and the correct spelling. Main Entry: 2hoity-toity Function: adjective 1 : thoughtlessly silly or frivolous : FLIGHTY 2 ... (in SF Bay Area) ... information is gushing toward your brain like a fire hoseaimed at a teacup. Dogbert[/nq]
The first sense above is unfamiliar to me. I like the following definition.
From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hoity-toityAdj. 1. hoity-toity - affectedly genteel
hifalutin, highfalutin, highfaluting, la-di-da, grandiose pretentious - making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction; "a pretentious country house"; "a pretentious fraud"; "a pretentious scholarly edition"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]as far as i can remember this means 'playful'. Can anyone confirm the[/nq]^^^^
(Subject: hoiti-toiti (text hidden in headers instead of in the message body where it belongs) )
[nq:1]meaning of the word. Also what is the correct spelling as i cant seem to find it in any of the dictionaries with the above spelling[/nq]
(COD10)
hoity-toity · adj.

1 haughty.
2 archaic frolicsome.? ORIGIN C17: from obs. hoit ?indulge in riotous mirth?, of unknown origin.
if you want more:
(OED2)
hoity-toity, n., a., adv., int.
("hOItI"tOItI) See also highty-tighty. (app. a deriv. of hoit v., with reduplication; logically, the adj. ought to precede the n. The sense seems in later times to have gradually been influenced by high, height, and their family; this becomes explicit in the spelling highty-tighty.)

A. n.
1. Riotous or giddy behaviour; romping, frolic; disturbance,?rumpus?; flightiness. Also, b. Assumption of superiority, ?airs?, huffiness.
1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 100 The Widows I observ'd ..Chanting and Jigging to every Tune they heard, and all upon the Hoyty-Toyty, like mad Wenches of Fifteen.

1784 O'Keefe Fontainebleau iii. iii. (L.), My mother .. was a finelady, all upon the hoity-toities, and so, good for nothing.
1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. ii, If this Danton were to burst yourmesh-work! .. what a hoitytoity were there, Justice and Culprit changing places.

1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 2374 After your three bouts Athoitytoity, great men with long words, And so forth.
2. A giddy or romping girl; a hoyden, romp. dial. Cf. highty-tighty n.
1719 D'Urfey Pills I. 255 The Frowzy Browzy, Hoyty Toyty,Covent-Garden Harridan.

1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Hoity-toity, a hoity-toity wench; a giddy,thoughtless, romping girl.
B. adj. Frolicsome, romping, giddy, flighty. Also, b. Assuming, haughty, petulant, huffy.
1690 Dryden Amphit. ii. ii, And that hoighty toighty business ought,in conscience, to be over.

1713 Steele Guardian No. 10 35 If any hoity-toity things make a fuss,they are sure to be taken to pieces the next visit.
1769 F. Brooke Emily Montague (1784) I. iv. 16 There is generally acertain hoity-toity inelegance of form and manner at seventeen.
1820 Keats Cap & Bells lxxix, See what hoity-toity airs she took.
1851 Helps Comp. Solit. vii. (1874) 127 A good girl and nothoity-toity.

1896 Sir W. Harcourt Sp. Ho. Com. 13 Feb., It is not to be got rid ofby the use of, if I may use the phrase without offence, the hoity-toity language of the hon. and gallant member.

?C. adv. In a frolicsome or giddy manner. Obs.
1714 Arbuthnot Harmony in Uproar Misc. Wks. 1751 II. 31 All of asudden we run as mad as ever; and hoity toity away went we.
1763 Bickerstaff Love in Village ii. iii. 18th Air, Hoity, toity,Whisking, frisking.
D. int. An exclamation expressing surprise with some degree of contempt, esp. at words or actions considered to show flightiness or undue assumption.
1695 Congreve Love for L. iii. x, Hoity toity, what have I to do withhis Dreams or his Divination?

1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. viii, Hoity toity! .. madam is in herairs, I protest.

1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxix, ?Why he don't mean to say he's going!Hoity toity! Nonsense.?

1883 Mrs. Alexander Executor II. 91 ?Hoity toity!? cried Mr. Harding,a little surprised. ?Well, you'll think better of it?.

Hence hoity-"toityism, hoity-"toityness, flightiness, huffiness, petulance. hoity-toity v. intr., to act in a hoity-toity manner, to romp inelegantly, to hoyden.
1790 ?Toby Teach 'em? Hist. Goody Goosecap 23 Miss SallyScramble .. minded nothing but hoity-toitying about, and had nothing but play in her head.

1820 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. 106 A person whosehoity-toityness is depressing beyond conception.

1881 T. Watts in Athenæum 3 Sept. 308/2 The talk gets naturally upon?lords? in general, gentility, nonsense, and ?hoity-toityism? as the canker at the heart of modern civilization.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]as far as i can remember this means 'playful'. Can ... it in any of the dictionaries with the above spelling[/nq]
[nq:1]Use www.m-w.com and the correct spelling.[/nq]
Must we use that one?
From the correcter, or at least completer, OED:
1. Riotous or giddy behaviour; romping, frolic; disturbance, ?rumpus?;flightiness. Also, b. Assumption of superiority, ?airs?, huffiness.

I see no hoiti-toiti, but highy-tighty is a variation when the word is used as an interjection. For example:
1866 Cornh. Mag. May 565 'Highty-tighty; what a much ado aboutnothing!' said the old lady.
[nq:1]Main Entry: 2hoity-toity Function: adjective 1 : thoughtlessly silly or frivolous : FLIGHTY 2 : marked by an air of assumed importance : HIGHFALUTIN[/nq]
How do you like 'hoity-toityism'? I think it's an amusing word, not incredibly ugly at all. Another OED cite:
1881 T. Watts in Athenæum 3 Sept. 308/2 The talk gets naturally upon'lords' in general, gentility, nonsense, and 'hoity-toityism' as the canker at the heart of modern civilization.

Charles Riggs

Hoiti-toiti

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