What does the word "sadity" really mean and why isn't it in the dictionary?

Question

People usually use the word "sadity" when they are describing someone as arrogant or if someone is treating them in a condescending manner. Is this the correct spelling and meaning? Where did it come from?

Answer 1

i know what you are talking about.
i'm not sure if that is the correct spelling because i only say the word, i don't write it. i would probably spell it "saditty". the meaning is correct though. if someone is acting like they are too good for you and or like something/someone is beneath them, they are being saditty.

its just a slang word that is probably not used enough by enough people to be put in the dictionary. as you see, some people in here haven't heard of it.

Answer 2

In the 1970s, this word appeared for my brother, who had just been hired as an English teacher at an African American high school. He was told by his students that it was slang for a black person who "acts like" a white person. Since it's fairly accepted for mentally stable people that there is no possible way a person could truly "act like" someone of a different race (given that people of any specific race obviously don't all "act" the same way), the word eventually fell out of use...at least to my knowledge. But recently, I'm hearing it again, even on TV, so I can only assume it means anyone who acts like they're better than other people. And if it keeps being used, it WILL eventually wind up in the dictionary, because that's how American English evolves, unlike countries that actually have government oversight over their language.

Answer 3

Man, I've been hearing that word for as long as I can remember. Although "saditty" doesn't officially exist in the English thesaurus, it, like any other word, CAN be created and given a definition. It's certainly been used often enough.

Answer 4

You've already closed this but siddity is in the urban dictionary and most of the answers here regarding it's definition are on track

Answer 5

It's taken from 'high-society'.

This is a very old usage, probable dating from an era when many people were illiterate. When a person is unfamiliar with the actual word and its spelling, close approximations like this often occur.

Note the accent on 'society' is on the 'i'. When the word alters and loses a syllable, the accent remains on the 'i' - 'saditty'.

'high-society' --> 'high-saditty' --> 'saditty'

Answer 6

I've studied old pre-war blues and interviewed a number of old blues musicians for almost fifty years, which is where I frequently heard this word used when they were referring to Blacks who were more educated and affluent and tried to act much like middle-class whites of the day, generally looking down somewhat on the less educated Black farmers, field-hands,railroad workers, sharecroppers, etc. The term was used in a slightly derogatory way. Similar to another term I'd heard several times, "citified."

Answer 7

I have only heard it used among black folks - like triflin' which you probably can't find in a dictionary either. There are most likely many words, which as black culture has become less self-contained, are falling out of use. Meriney comes to mind, alos.

Answer 8

I know what you mean, my parents say it. It means stuck up or arrogant. I couldn't find it in the dictionary under various spellings I tried, so I suspect it's another of those corrupted words stemming from way back when.

Answer 9

It's slang; a derivation of the term "high society" used to describe someone as being better "class" than others.

Answer 10

Sadity Definition