Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
The origin of the phrase “getting down the the nitty-gritty” is lost from view for the moment, though Google Books is making it easier to find early examples of its use, now going back to the 1920s. Geeting down to the needy-greedy is more visceral, more raw. But not as raw as the real meaty greety. Admittedly it was hard to find apparently genuine instances of the first amid the word play and the proper usages. The second is even more tenuous; I threw it in anyway.
Anti-smoking graphic
In my opinion the central purpose of this image is to get down to the needy, greedy and focus on what smoking is really capable of doing in a breatheless yet torturing way.
pre-quake Haitian social forum
getting down to the needy greedy is where we also need to focus our attention
Facebook personal resolutions
I know at times we let hate, anger, tempatation, lust and all those sins get the best of us but when it all comes down to the needy greedy, who’s decision was it?
BB gun review
well anyway, down to the meaty greety
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As one of my acquaintance said, when he was “really down there, in the gripsâ€: “Here’s where we really start to put some grit on the dirtâ€.
Also:
Now we are going to get down to the brass nuts.
get your hands dirty with the nits and bolts of the actual site.
Let’s get down to the real Mickey Mouse of the matter
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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Quite a few web examples of “needy greedy” that look genuine. A real double-yolk eggcorn, I think.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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I think “down to the needy greedy” is a wonderful find. I especially like the way that—like its acorn—the reshaping retains a thematic consistency while still managing to rhyme. “Nits” and “grit” are both tiny little things that are hard to pick out or pick up, and being “needy” and being “greedy” can also fit together fairly well.
But what’s the eggcornical logic at work here? Is it that need and greed are both fairly elemental impulses/circumstances—conditions that seem to shape everything else when they come on the scene? Or are the reshapers thinking of something else?
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I like the way you’ve characterized it already. If there is more to say, it appears to me that “getting down to the needy greedy” turns the phrase from the objective and physical more to the subjective or personal. But the idea is the same as the nitty-gritty, in the sense of moving beyond generalities to practicalities, or abandoning pretences to face facts. The new phrase does invoke the id but I think its intent is towards focusing on practical things, on what is needed and at the same time, desired. “Greedy” is kind of repetitive and an intensifier the way nits and grits are. In a sense, “needy-greedy” is sometimes more literally true and less metaphorical than “nitty gritty”.
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Another variant involves the possibility of close examination inherent in the word grid:
Do you want the nitty griddy details? Ok. So, I dont know how many of you know that I came to USA from Macedonia. A …
its more important to focus on the constant supply of calories throughout the day rather than the nitty griddy nutrition facts. ...
... and then these names will show up in your export, so you can more quickly and easier get down to the nitty griddy with your Excel spreadsheets. .
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