square from Delaware (1939)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 4:53 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 4:32 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 03:57:30PM -0400, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>> ---
>>> 1939 _New York Amsterdam News_ [Dan Burley's "Backdoor Stuff"] 27 May
>>> 20/1 "Lawd! I'm a square from Delaware, a Lane from Spokane, a killer
>>> from Manila and a Home from Rome," Allen Drew beats out.
>>> ---
>>> 1940 _New York Amsterdam News_ 2 Mar. 21/2 So don't be the "square
>>> from Delaware," just lace up your boots and "dig this jive."
>>> ---
>>>
>>> Also c. 1940, Fats Waller released a song called "(You're a) Square
>>> From Delaware" (Bluebird B-10730, B-side of "Send Me Jackson"). And I
>>> believe the expression shows up in the 1941 movie _Ball of Fire_. Is
>>> this the origin for "square" = 'unhip person'?
>>
>> Here are the two examples of _square_ in the shooting script:
>>
>> 1941 C. Brackett & 'B. Wilder' _Ball of Fire_ (film script) 28
>> All right, gates. All right, squares, plant your frames solid
>> in your chairs and latch onto the roller coaster. We're going
>> through the night life of Manhattan--every juice joint.
>>
>> 1941 C. Brackett & 'B. Wilder' _Ball of Fire_ (film script) 35
>> A professor!.. Just a square from Delaware.
>
> So do we have anything earlier for "square" = 'unhip person (from
> Delaware or elsewhere)'? The 1939 Amst News cite doesn't imply
> unhipness, but the 1940 one certainly does.

As does the Fats Waller song, rather explicitly:

"Follow my tip
You better get hip
You're nothin' but a square from Delaware."

(as heard on the CD "The Last Years, 1940-1943")


--Ben Zimmer

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