antedating (?) of "hep" 1907

[Stephen Goranson]

Quoting Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>:

> On Fri, Sep 05, 2008 at 08:34:47AM -0400, Stephen Goranson wrote:
>> OED has 1908 for slang "hep" {and a 1941 "Joe Hep" mention) and 1904
>> for "hip."
>>
>> At the Actor's Boarding House and Other Stories, By Helen Green (NY:
>> Brentano's.
>> 1907).
>>
>> p. 31 "I'm hep," said Terence, briefly, feeling in his pocket for the short
>> billy which had won him so many scraps over on "the Avenoo."
>
> HDAS cites this example from Green, along with four or more
> earlier examples of _hep_ (depending on how you regard the
> dating of this and other books).
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED


Yes, thanks, I should have checked there. Now that I have, it still
appears that
the collocation Joe Hep in this sense may be an antedating. The book was
published in 1907 but it says that the stories have all appreared in (NY?)
Morning Telegraph (in 1906?).

Stephen

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