Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for December 17, 2011
December 16, 2011
December 18, 2011
Transcript:
Adam: Okay, Clayton. I got you Skyrim. But let's keep in on the D.L. Clayton: D.L.? Adam: The "down low". You know, the Q.T. Clayton: Q.T.? Adam: Q.T. you know... For... Um... Clayton: Quit talking? Quiet trentonians? Quidditch tournament? Adam: I think they kept the real definition of Q.T. too far down on the D.L.
Origin
The slang term ‘qt’ is a shortened form of ‘quiet’. There’s no definitive source for the phrase ‘on the q.t.’, although it appears to be of 19th century British origin – not, as is often supposed, American. The longer phrase ‘on the quiet’ is also not especially old, but is first recorded somewhat before ‘on the qt’, in Otago: Goldfields & Resources, 1862:
“Unless men can work [the gold] on ‘the quiet’, they are not likely to make ‘piles’ so rapidly as Messrs. Hartley and Riley.”
That first record is from new Zealand, but is soon followed by citations from the United Kingdom and the USA.
As to on the q.t., in The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, Robert Hendrickson states:
“A British broadside ballad (1870) contained the line ‘Whatever I tell you is on the Q.T.’”
It would be good to know the name of the ballad in order to follow up this assertion. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t give it, from which we can only suppose he didn’t know it himself. Without some supporting evidence that claim has to be in doubt.