International Yada Yada Yada Day Date in the current year: July 23, 2024

The phrase “yada yada yada” (or “yada, yada, yada”) is used to represent boring speech (as a synonym for “and so on and so forth” or to silence someone who wouldn’t stop talking). Basically, it is used in the same contexts as “blah blah blah”. Although it was made popular by Seinfeld, the expression wasn’t invented by the sitcom’s writers; in fact, it is several decades older than the television series.

The phrase “yada yada yada” or “yada yada” probably derives from phases like “yackety-yack”, “yatter, yatter”, “yatata, yatata” and other similar expression used to imitate chatter and rambling that were common in the 1940s and 1950s. For example, there is a song called “Ya-ta-ta” (or “Yatata, Yatata, Yatata”) about pointless conversations at cocktail parties in the 1947 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Allegro.

The first person to popularize the phrase “yada yada” was Lenny Bruce, a famous American stand-up comedian. He used it in his stand-up bit “Father Flotsky’s Triumph”, the closing track on Bruce’s 1961 album “American”. However, it is Seinfeld that is responsible for the phrase’s renewed popularity.

The expression appeared as a catchphrase in the 19th episode of the eight season of Seinfeld (or the 153rd episode overall), unsurprisingly titled “The Yada Yada”. In the episode, a character uses the phrase “yada yada yada” to shorten her stories and cover up some of the things about her life she doesn’t want others to know.

“The Yada Yada” is one of the most famous Seinfeld episodes, specifically because of its focus on the catchphrase. In 2009, the Paley Center for Media named “yada yada yada” as the number one on its list entitled TV’s 50 Funniest Phrases. It took No. 1 over such iconic phrases as “D’oh” from The Simpsons and “How you doin’?” from Friends.

International Yada Yada Yada Day was created in 2015 by a fan of Seinfeld named Michael W. Casby. He noticed that there was a Blah Blah Blah Day and decided to declare July 23 as International Yada Yada Yada Day. Two years later, the creator of the sitcom himself, Jerry Seinfeld, referenced the holiday in an episode of his talk show series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

There are several fun ways to celebrate International Yada Yada Yada Day. You can re-watch the iconic Seinfeld episode (and maybe a couple more episodes while you’re at it), host a Seinfeld watch party for your friends and family, say “yada yada yada” at any chance you can, and spread the word on social media with the hashtags #InternationalYadaYadaYadaDay and #YadaYadaYadaDay.

By the way, International Yada Yada Yada Day isn’t the only holiday inspired by Seinfeld. Fans of the sitcom also celebrate Festivus every December 23. Festivus was conceived as an alternative to the commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally created by writer and editor Daniel O’Keefe in the 1960s, it was incorporated into a Seinfeld episode by his son Dan who worked as a writer on the show.