Talk:nifty

I wonder if there is some relation to the German (ver)nünftig, because there is somewhat of a similarity between the idea of the meaning of both. However, it is not recorded as being earlier than the 19th century by any reference I could find. Eric Schiefelbein (talk) 07:03, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Well, it's clearly not Old-Anglo stock, so if anything I would expect a rather recent date, although probably not directly from German. It might have come via Yiddish, say, and then presumably originating in North America. None of this is true though and the meaning to my mind almost opposite. Often seen in old(ish) computer slang where for instance you'd have a nifty hack or some nifty tool. It is indeed more like smart, practical, helpful, maybe with a touch of shrewdness even and somewhat makeshift. This is nifty. Vernünftig being anything else, we surely couldn't talk of a "vernünftiger Hack". ("gewitzt", "pfiffig" coming close.) -82.83.169.249 11:09, 25 June 2022 (UTC)