In my last post, I used the phrase “hoity-toity” which I realized I’d never seen spelled out before, so I check it out at a dictionary site. I also happened upon a page describing the origin of the word, which I thought was sufficiently interesting to reproduce here. Apparently, some people believe that the word comes from the french “haut toit” which means high roof, and that it refers to the fact that upper class people would have taller buildings than lower class people, and would hence look down on them literally. But apparently, this explanation is not true, and neither is it linked to the word, “haughty.”

“Hoity-toity” has nothing to do with French (or the French), however. The expression comes from our penchant for creating rhyming phrases such as “loosey-goosey” or “helter-skelter,” and in this case its base is “hoit,” a 16th century verb whose meaning is “to play the fool” or “to indulge in riotous and noisy mirth.” (”Hoity-toity” was more commonly used to describe those who engaged in thoughtlessly silly or frivolous behavior before it became more of a synonym for “pretentious.”)