Copasetic

[Jonathan Lighter]

A:  Evidence ?

B:  If there is any, the question of etymology remains unresolved.

JL

Michael McKernan <mckernan at LOCALNET.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Michael McKernan
Subject: Copasetic
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With the originator's permission, I cross-post this message from the
Publore listserv (Public Sector Folklore, not the 'lore of pubs'). They
are currently discussing 'copasetic.'

>Credit where credit is due: the word was coined by the great jazz tap
>artist Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949). As his entry in American
>National Biography Online notes
>(http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-00990.html), it was in his
>hometown of Richmond, Va., that "he invented the famous phrase
>'everything's copasetic,' meaning everything's tip-top or first-rate."
>
>--Jurretta Heckscher
~~~~~~
>Dr. Jurretta Jordan
>Heckscher
>Research Specialist
>Digital Reference Team
>The Library of Congress
>Washington, D.C. 20540-4604

Michael McKernan


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