"Hep" vs. "Hip"

Tue Jan 2 19:06:31 UTC 2007

Though your question be rhetorical, I shall respond to it, anyway. You
could easily have doubted me. You could have responded, "That must be
your asshole talking, because your mouth knows better!" And that would
haave been cool. It would have been, however, a dangerous move to this
extent. As the old blues song goes, "Don't start me to talkin',
'cause I'll tell evvithang I know!"

As the listserv has probably noticed, almost every response that I
post contains a goodly portion of autobiography. My original reply
contained the story of my relationship with Greg from 1959-1972.
Fortunately, I was able to force myself to delete all that. Had you
responded, "Sounds good, but can you possibly document it?" I'd
probably still be working on my autobiography!

-Wilson, unable to resist habitually telling more than anyone could
ever want to know

On 1/1/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Hep" vs. "Hip"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> How could I have doubted you, Wilson ?  (Rhetorical question only.)
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "Hep" vs. "Hip"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Absolutely 100% certain, in this case. It was in November, 1959, at
> Fort Devens, MA, otherwise known as the "armpit of the Army," the
> first instance of this type of phrase that I ever heard. "How ADJ is
> that?!" was the catchphrase of Gregor Bruce McCurdy. Greg also was the
> first - and last - person that I ever heard use "fine baby" as slang
> for "attractive woman." And he was the person who asked me to teach
> him how to say "cool"' a la mode noire. He was stone into le jazz cool
> and his favorite sound was "Joy Spring," by Clifford Brown & Max
> Roach. Though I was familiar with their names, I had never heard or
> even heard *of* this piece of music. It was one of those annoying
> "Damn! How is this white motherfucker hipper than I am?" moments.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 1/1/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> > Subject: Re: "Hep" vs. "Hip"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Wilson, are you 99.44% sure about "How ADJ is that?"
> >
> > It's become very prominent over the past few years (esp.in "How cool is that?"), but I can't say that I noticed it any earlier.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > Wilson Gray wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: Re: "Hep" vs. "Hip"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Whoa! How lame is that?
> >
> > When I was in the Army, "how ADJ is that?!" was quite a popular
> > catchphrase among my white colleagues, one of whom, I'm fairly certain
> > - well, as certain as anyone can be WRT this sort of thing - gave the
> > English-speaking world the still-used catchphrase, "Tell me about it!"
> > in the meaning, "Don't tell me about it, because I already understand
> > completely." If the phrase can be dated to any time prior to 1961,
> > then I'm more than willing to admit that I've been "living in a
> > dream," i.e. that I don't know what I'm talking about.
> >
> > Yes, I realize that even a lack of earlier cites is not proof of my
> > claim. But, as the Canadians say, "What the hell, eh?" It's all in
> > good fun.
> >
> > BTW, speaking of Canada, what happened with the thread re the proper
> > pronunciation of "Toronto"? Did anyone contact our colleague, Geoff
> > Nathan. about it? He's the one who taught me how to say it: "Tronna,"
> > IIRC. We were floormates at the LSA's institute at Buffalo in 1971.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On 12/23/06, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> > > Subject: Re: "Hep" vs. "Hip"
> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > I took a Black Literature class in the early '70s. Our African-American professor - can't think of his name just now, but I believe he was from upstate N.Y. - used "hep" rather frequently.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > Wilson Gray wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > > Subject: "Hep" vs. "Hip"
> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > As I was reading through a list of the Christmas sounds (here =
> > > "music") of my lost youth, I came across
> > >
> > > 1955-ROCKIN' 'N' ROLLIN' WITH SANTA CLAUS-The Hepsters
> > >
> > > 19_55_?! The _Hep_sters?!
> > >
> > > I would have bet money, i.e. as opposed to merely using the phrase, "I
> > > bet you," that "hep" in all its forms had died out before 1950!
> > >
> > > One never knows, do one?
> > >
> > > -Wilson
> > > --
> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > -----
> > > -Sam'l Clemens
> > >
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> >
> >
> > --
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -----
> > -Sam'l Clemens
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org