La-di-da
Meaning
Used to highlight and ridicule snobbish forms of behaviour or speech.
Origin
‘La-di-da’ was fading out of use in the language until it staged something of a comeback following its use by the eponymous herione of the 1977 film Annie Hall. Diane Keaton’s character actually said ‘La-di- da, la-di-da, la la’. This wasn’t a reference to swanky or snobbish behaviour – it was used as a meaningless phrase, spoken out of context when nervous, to emphasize Hall’s ditzy personality.
George Duckworth’s Atkin House Scraps, 1883 included the expression:
“The young ‘un goes to music-halls And does the la- di-da.”
‘La-di-da’ sounds as though it may be of French origin. In fact, it isn’t and derives from the earlier reduplicated phrase ‘lardy-dardy’. That was cited in The Amateur’s Magazine, printed in London in 1859:
It was exaggerated flattery he always felt provoked dardy talk… and disgusted with. Such absurd palaver, and lardy-
