The name "Jazzer"--Jazzer & Gozlin

[James Smith]

Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899) wrote the Chatterbox
Polka -- Plappermaulchen Polka Op. 245, which was
subtitled 'A Musical Joke, named for Josef Strauss's
daughter, who evidently was a little chatterbox.  Of
course I don't know if it was on Johann's original
manuscripts, but I've performed this piece with an
orchestra and under the German title was the subtitle
"Jasseusse" (spelling from memory).  I have no idea
how conversant J. S., Jr was in French, and this may
simply have been added later by a publisher - but then
again, this might indicate the word was popularly
known and used to some extent outside of France, and
that there could possibly be a German tie to the name
Jazzer (jasseur) or the word jazz.

--- Gerald Cohen <gcohen at UMR.EDU> wrote:
> To ads-l and ans-l:
>
> In the 1896 published joke, the two speakers are
> Jazzer and Gozlin.
> Jazzer, if literally "Chatterbox," would be an
> appropriate name for
> someone engaged in light-hearted banter.
>    Meanwhile, the name Gozlin closely resembles
> "gosling" (= a young
> goose; a foolish or callow person), even though the
> name reportedly
> derives from the French personal name Goscelin
> "just." So for the
> 1896 joke-writer, apparently the two participants
> were 'Chatterbox'
> and 'Young Goose/Foolish or Callow Person.'
>
>    Again, appropriate names for a humorous item.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> P.S. Douglas Wilson mentions "Jinks" as being a name
> on the order of "Jones."
> Actually, though, "Jinks," when used in a humorous
> item, almost
> certainly has reference to the printer's devil Jinks
> of the
> mid-nineteenth century poem that Barry Popik
> unearthed and which
> possibly (this is still controversial) underlies the
> word "jinx."



=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

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