Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. stuck up, arrogant, snobbish.

1855		Luton Times & Advertiser 16 Jan. 4/5: [H]is glib tongue and la-di-da air have imposed on the credulous rank and file.
1861		M.E. Braddon Trail Serpent 227: You’re not much good, my friend, says I, with your lardy-dardy ways, and your cold-blooded words.
1870		London & Provincial Entr’acte 15 Oct. 3/1: I stayed at the bar, / And found there close on twenty Pro’s, / Some far from lardydah. / [...] it seemed that they of cash were rather low’.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 1 Apr. 7/4: [She] was seduced by a ‘lardy dah’ character of the ‘lum tum uppah ordaw don’t you know’.
1883		Louisiana Democrat 14 Feb. 1/6: Lah-De-Dah. Was there ever a more remarkable creature than the young man of to-day? He is a study’.
1883		Bristol Magpie 11 Jan. 6/1: ‘’Arry’ generally indulges in a twopenny smoke [...] and his happiness is still further enhanced by the possession of a showy [...] walking stick. He is a swell of the decidedly ‘la de dah’ description.
1886		Leamington Spa Courier 27 Feb. 8/4: A character song by Mr. C.P. Oakly, ‘Captain Ladidah’.
1892		‘John Miller’ Workingman’s Paradise 104: If he came any of his law-de-dah squatter funny business on me I’d give him the straight wire.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 18 Feb. 7/3: Quite a number of lah-di-dah Neutral Bay residents object to the establishment of a penny ferry to that salubrious suburb.
1895		‘’Arry on Harry’ in Punch 24 Aug. 90/1: ’E bangs Boernerges to bittocks, this lar-de-dar bagman — in silk.
1912		E. Pugh Harry’ The Cockney 279: And stopping out all night! And highty-tighty and la-di-da to your own mother.
1913		J. London Valley o f the Moon (1914) 58: Remember that lah-de-dah bookkeeper rummy?
1915		Leigh & Arthurs [perf. Marie Lloyd] A little of what you fancy does you good 🎵 But a drop of stout’s supposed to make you fat / And there’s many a lar-di-dar-di madam doesn’t dare to touch it.
1916		P. Kyne Cappy Ricks 248: Just look at the difference between him and these la-di-da boys that never had any hard knocks!
1919		C. Sandburg letter 17 Apr. in Mitgang (1968) 158: I’ll grant there’s a lah-de-dah angle to the guy.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 39: Would you like a bite of something? None of your damned lawdeedaw airs here; the rich of a rasher fried with herring?
1922–24		O.O. McIntyre White Light Nights 139: It was in a la-de-dah Fifth Avenue soda-fountain where theater crowds go in evening dress.
1929		N. Jacob Man Who Found Himself (1952) 73: Proper la-di-da chap ’e wear an’ all.
1939		P. Hamilton To The Public Danger 53: fred: You like ’em in that class, don’t you Nan? nan: What class? fred: Oh — cars an’ lah-di-dah voice, an’ what not.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 128: ’E ’adn’t no time for ’im. All la-di-da.
1950		Derby Dly Teleg. 21 July 4/2: He’s — well, you know the type — all la-di-dah [...] has a television set.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 84: Here was one of Ray’s enemies, a lahdidah, jumped up, snotty-nosed cowson, defenceless. Good enough! Smashing chance to put in the slipper.
1956		S. Selvon Lonely Londoners 124: The cruder you are the more the gielas like you you can’t put on any English accent for them or play ladeda or tell them studying medcine in Oxford.
1960		(con. c.1918) D. Holman-Hunt My Grandmothers and I (1987) 19: ’Ark at you, all la-di-da!
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 98: Swan’s lah-de-dah voice stopped me.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 37: He had got over what he called my la-di-da accent.
1987		R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 79: She’s trying to act la-defucking-da, as though she’s a queen and I’m some scumbag.
1987		A. Burgess Little Wilson 13: Southerns [...] were not well regarded in brutish Lancashire [...] They spoke lahdy dah.
1990		J. Healy Streets Above Us (1991) 43: This mob down here. All lah-di-lah, posh voices.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 232: What had happened that resulted in all this la-de-da catshit was that Big Oscar had been given tickets to this Spring Carnival by his rich Uncle Angus .
1999		Guardian G2 11 June 10: A la-di-da pair of Moroccan-style beaded slippers.
2000		T. Udo Vatican Bloodbath 80: Mr fucken lardy fucken da little Lord fucken Fauntleroy fucken college boy faggot.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 51: The mother’s changed the family name back to the original la-dee-da double-barrelled affair.
2001		Indep. Mag. 12 May 62: I’ve done The Beggar’s Opera and all these laa-dee-laa West End shows.
2004		Mad mag. Dec. 35: That’s just because he went off to la-di-da college.
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 209: Oh, la-di-da.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] Show up at things [...] and act all la-di-da like a successful female author.

2. effeminate, affected.

1885		Lanarks. Upper Ward Examiner 12 Dec. 4/6: A tall, well-made Engishman [...] whose face was of a soft ‘spoonyism’ type. He had a regular la-de-dah manner.
1891		‘’Arry on Arrius’ in Punch 26 Dec. 302/2: There isn’t a hignerant mug [...] Who ’as learned ’ow to garsp hout a He-haw! in regular la-di-dah style / But’ll look down on ‘’Arry the haitchless’.
1891		in Punch 14 Feb. 84: The female ’art you think you’ll mash, / By sporting stick-up collars and a la-di-da moustache.
1905		H.G. Wells Kipps (1952) 171: I don’t want no gells in the place larfin’ at me '...] sniggerin’ and larfin’ and prancin’ and traipesin’ lardy da!
1912		H. Lawson ‘Grandfather’s Courtship’ in Roderick (1972) 860: He hated dictionary or ‘la-di-dah’ words, but used one or two now and then when he wanted to be impressive.
1932		D.L. Sayers Have His Carcase 117: You know the sort, all la-di-dah and snake-skin shoes.
1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 42: He minced off, passing a manicured hand through his marcelled hair. Michaels waved his hand after him, la-de-da fashion.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 53: Sometimes a friend o’ mine, she gives me la-di-da cigarettes, gold tips and a smell like a chorus girl in pink packets.
1960		D. Lytton Goddam White Man 98: They were all dressed up like whites and they tried to talk la-de-da like whites.
1980		John Cooper Clarke ‘Beasley Street’ 🎵 Yellow socks and a pink cravat, nothing la-di-da.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 61: A la de da gentleman minced up to me and asked me the time.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 122: Up on stage, roysh, it’s all lah-de-dah, the whole song-and-dance routine.
2009		Observer 1 Feb. 33/2: A well-run campaign can engage online communities without any fashionable, Obama-style brains or la-di-dah Obama-style blarney.
2010		Sun. Times Mag. 19 Dec. 63/3: A street-fighting lawyer who may his way up by graft - la-di-da law degree.