More "jazz" from Oakland (1914-15)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Barry Popik and I have already posted early sports-related "jazz" cites
from the _Oakland Tribune_ (10/4/1913, 1/10/1914, 10/14/1914, 2/24/1915):

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0505C&L=ADS-L&P=R16730

Now some more cites crop up on Newspaperarchive that weren't available a
few months ago -- either they're only now completing coverage from this
period or the OCR has changed (or both).

-----
1914 _Oakland Tribune_ 4 Sep. 6/2 It will be something worth looking at,
the race around the lake over a fine course, and Oaklanders who want to
see a lot of finely-built lads, full of "pep" and "jazz" do their very
best, should not fail to be on hand at the start and wait for the finish.
-----
1915 _Oakland Tribune_ 29 July 10/4 The other advantage has to do with
Weaver's pep and enthusiasm, which is bound to help matters along when his
men buck against the hard "gaff" while away from home. Confidence has won
many a race and Bob Weaver is right there when it comes to "jazz" and the
gentle brand of talk.
-----
1915 _Oakland Tribune_ 15 Aug. 39/3 Inability to come through in the pinch
the first part of the game took all the jazz out of the Krieg boys.
-----
1915 _Oakland Tribune_ 8 Sep. 10/2 Conde showed his old time class in the
first round and brought over several ripping smashes to Gorman's face but
the recent illness which Conde has been recuperating from soon got the
best of him and his old time "jazz" gave out.
-----
1915 _Oakland Tribune_ 29 Oct. 16/6 The Saints held a rally last night
where plenty of "Jazz" was shown.
-----

The cite from 7/29/1915 would seem to support George Thompson's idea that
"jazz" referred to "the energetic chatter that some baseball players spout
during games." Note the similarity to "pep", as in "pep talk".


--Ben Zimmer