hoity-toity
Thoughtless, giddy, haughty, flighty, gay, and noisy; as, to be in hoity-toity spirits;– used also as an exclamation, denoting surprise or disapprobation, with some degree of contempt. (Webster, 1882)
For Mrs. Brewster said she'd not slave for a hoity-toity snip that had nothing to do but dress up and sit in a schoolhouse all day.... – These Happy Golden Years, Chapter 3, "One Week"
The hoity-toity was a riotous dance in the days of King Charles II (1630-1685; became King of England and Scotland in 1649). The term may be derived from the word hoiden or hoyden, meaning a young girl approaching the age of womanhood; a rough-mannered, active young girl. It often symbolized a flirt or coquette, words which conveyed the feminine idea of softness and fascination rather than an awkwardness and rudeness.
It was also used as an expression of surprise ("Oh!"), as in Mary Mapes Dodge's Hans Brinker: or, The Silver Skates: "Hoity, toity! Pretty talk we're having, and St. Nicholas Eve almost here!"
In 1873, author Charles Camden published the first in a series of books about a character named Hoity Toity: Hoity Toity: The Good Little Fellow.
It begins:
Hoity Toity wears a fool's cap, but Hoity Toity is no fool. Hoity Toity has a grim grey beard, but Hoity Toity is as young as ever he was, and there isn't a kinder heart than the one that beats like a little bird's under his little jerkin. Some people think Hoity Toity a fool because he does queer things sometimes; but they are foolish people themselves, who won't wait and watch until he has finished. And some people say that Hoity Toity has been laid up with the rheumatism for many a year; but they won't take the trouble to look for him, or they might soon see him slipping in and out of the hedges like a little wren, whenever they take a walk...
Hoity-Toity Snip.
Hoity-toity was already an old phrase when used by Mrs. Brewster in These Happy Golden Years. By calling Laura a "hoity-toity snip," Mrs. Brewster is making light of Laura's career as a teacher - that it is of no worth in comparison to the work she does. Snip here is a variation of the word snipe, meaning a fool; blockhead.
hoity-toity (THGY 3)
