Hissy fits, or frivolous tantrums often associated with girls, particularly in the Southern United States, probably derive from the word hysterical. An Alabama caller started thinking about the origin of this word after learning of the opening of a nearby store called Hissy Fit Boutique. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Hissy Fits”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, I’m Nell Bedsoe from Alabama, and being raised in southeast Alabama most of my life, I heard my mother and other women refer to children that were misbehaving as having hissy fits. But it was usually just with the females. I don’t ever remember they saying, you know, the girl would be crying and just stubborn and everything, and I just wondered where that saying came from.
Nell, is it from Alabama? Yes. Where in Alabama are you? I’m in Abbeville, A-B-B-E-V-I-L-L-E. Well, Abbeville. Welcome to the show, Nell. Thank you. I used this when I was growing up, hissy fit Martha. Oh, sure. I was raised in Missouri. You knew this in Kentucky then, Martha. Oh, it’s just not Southern, huh? Oh, well, it is mostly Southern, actually. Yeah, and Missouri is kind of a half and half state. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was raised in Kentucky, but I guess that’s north of Alabama.
I guess I’m sort of like, do I sound like a Yankee to you? Yeah, a little. But I heard you were from Kentucky. Get her tipsy and it really comes out. Now, now.
Yeah, so you’re wondering about why anybody would say hissy fit or don’t have a hissy fit or she had a hissy fit, that kind of thing. Yes. We suspect that maybe it’s a form of hysterical. Oh. So a hysterical fit. Yeah. Crying and ranting. And the women always have that, don’t they? The women? It’s very gendered. It’s true. Oh, yeah.
The word hysterical actually goes back to the Greek word for uterus. Oh. Yeah. And Freud associated it with them. Right. The assumption was that somehow women were prone to these fits because their uterus made them so. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So most likely it’s connected to hysterical and it has that hissing sound to it as well. So you can see how hysterical fit could be turned into hysteric fit. And if you didn’t quite understand it or know the word hysteric, it might sound a little bit like hissy.
Well, I listen to the radio a lot. And on one of the talk radio shows that I listen to, they are advertising in a town about 30 miles away from me, a town a lot larger than what I live. And they called it the Hissy Fit Boutique. They used, they didn’t, it was just one word, and it’s a boutique down there. And I thought, well, I’ve got to call, you know. You know, here it is popping out all over, and I want to know how and everything. But I did, when Mother would say she’s having a hissy fit, I’d look, and of course it was a she. And the boys, they could fight and everything, but the girls just screaming, you know.
Isn’t that interesting? Mm— And did you sense that it was sort of a funny word or sort of? Yeah. Yeah. Like not necessarily that serious. Yeah. -huh. In other words, you know, don’t pay any attention to it. She’s just having a hissy fit. Right. Merely a hissy fit. Some folks, by the way, will just say hissy. She’s having a hissy without adding the fit. Oh, well, I’m glad we’re not the only ones that do that down here. It’s pretty widespread. It’s mainly Southern. The first uses pop up in Texas in the 1930s, although it’s certainly older than that. Yeah.
So what do Yankees call it, I wonder? Well, you just might pitch a fit. Pitch a fit. Or throw a fit. Pitch a fit. Yeah. Without the hissy in there. I like the hissing sound in there. Yeah. Nell, you are a delight. We appreciate your calling. Thank you. Thank y’all. And keep the good work up. I enjoy it. Oh, it’s our pleasure. Bye-bye now. Bye.
Well, if you’re like Nell and there’s something you came across that just will not leave your brain, come drop it on us, 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org.
