"Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917) (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Agree.

  JL

"Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
Subject: Re: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917) (UNCLASSIFIED)
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE



>
> OT. "Rastus" and "Zek'l" were still being used as generic
> personal names for a darky, like "darky" was used as a
> generic term for a black male, into the early 'Sixties. I
> wonder how far back they go.
>
> To give the white devil his due, these names were
> quite often also attached to poor whites of the caricatured
> "hillbilly"
> type.
>
> -Wilson

I'm familiar with Clem ("Clem Kadiddlehopper") and perhaps Zeke, but
never heard Rastus used as a name for a white guy, rural or not.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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