Does jazz "ax(e)" derive from jazz "chops"?

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sun, 6 Oct 2002, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:

> I don't have _Jazz Lexicon_ here, only the later _Jazz Talk,_
> which lumps these together in an unhelpful way. In the earlier
> book does he actually claim that the 1947 exemplifies the
> 'skill' sense? I personally think that the 1947 cite clearly
> means 'lip strength' and not 'skill', as does the 1958, but
> the 1962 quote probably does belong to the 'skill' sense (by
> _Jazz Talk,_ at least, Gold seem to think so too).

My recollection is that _Jazz Talk_ is substantially the same book as
_Jazz Lexicon_.

Fred Shapiro


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