"What's the giddas?"

Posted by R. Berg on October 26, 2001

In Reply to: "What's the giddas?" posted by Lee Gilchrist on October 26, 2001

: When I was growing up in Des Moines, this was a popular phrase among us kids. It something you say when you join a group of people and want to know what going on and that you want to get in on it. I have no idea of the spelling. I have never heard this anywhere since.
: Some of us, my self included, also put that extra "r" in words like warshing machine and George Warshington. What's up with that?

For "giddas" you might try the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) site (link below and URL here):
polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/ dare/dare.html

From one regional variety of spoken English to another, R's appear and vanish like anything. My father came from (rural) Iowa, and he didn't say "warsh."

• "What's the giddas?" Patty O'Dawes 10/27/01
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