Talk:tidy whities

Alternate forms

Google Books indicates that the spellings tighty whities and tighty-whities are also used. 71.66.97.228 05:34, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I'm working towards those, but stopped when I was surprised at not finding more early citations for this particular form. --EncycloPetey 05:36, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

I wonder which is the form as originally coined. If a verbal-only coinage originally (in a movie or TV show, for example), it's likely that everyone hence just guessed at the spelling, some spelling it "tighty" and some "tidy." To me the former makes more sense. 71.66.97.228 05:42, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

The "tighty" form appears in print as early as 1990; the "tidy" form in 1999, at least from b.g.c. citations. I've tentatively labelled (deprecated template usage) tidy whities as an eggcorn based on the data I've found. --EncycloPetey 05:46, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't find examples of "tighty whities" in Google Books until 1990. I do find a smattering of "tight whites" (the likely origin) in the 1970s, and one possible example from 1948. Thus, I would concur that the present form is an eggcorn. 71.66.97.228 05:47, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Upon further research I think "tight whites" may have also referred to white sailors' uniforms. 71.66.97.228 05:57, 10 July 2010 (UTC)