The mistaken 1909 "jazz" attestation in OED; was: "Please don't shoot the organist; he's doing his best" (1882)

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:

>     I'm away from my papers but can provide a general response about the
> 1909 "jazz" in OED. The presentation of this attestation is a flat-out
> error and has been recognized as such at OED at least by Jesse
> Scheidlower.  The attestation was submitted by Peter Tamony (to whose

The nine-years-too-early error in the date of first use for "movie" in OED
and HDAS has still not been acknowledged by those dictionaries.

Fred Shapiro


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