1912 "jazz"

[Gerald Cohen]

At 8:39 PM -0400 8/24/03, Dave Wilton wrote:
>Written citations are vital guideposts, but we shouldn't assume that just
>because there are no known written citations that a slang term was not in
>use. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. ...


   True, but absence of a word in writing isn't evidence that it was
in use in the meantime either. Theoretically, maybe it was and maybe
it wasn't. For "jazz"
one may assume that it continued to be spoken throughout the 1912
season, but that is only an assumption, and (it seems to me) an
unfounded one. I don't see why the players would have used the word,
which didn't refer to an actual pitch but rather seems to have been a
bit of exuberant nonsense spoken by Henderson for his opening-day
pitching assignment. What motivation would the players have had to
use the word?  What would its meaning have been?

  And is it really plausible that the sportswriters, always trolling
for anything interesting spoken by the players, could have overlooked
a new word that gained
anything more than the most limited currency? If Henderson really
coined a word that was catching on, why didn't his hometown
newspaper(s) mention this at least once when writing about him?

     Isn't it more plausible that the LA Times reported on the word
because Henderson used it in Los Angeles that one day and then all
newspapers fell silent on the word because in fact it wasn't being
used?


Gerald Cohen