antedating (?) of "hep" 1907

[Marc Velasco]

Hep was still used by Oscar Brown Jr. c. 1960s.



On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 5:58 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: antedating (?) of "hep" 1907
>
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>
> [The  Actor's Boarding House and Other Stories, By Helen Green] was
> > published in 1907 but it says that the stories have all appreared in
> (NY?)
> > Morning Telegraph (in 1906?).
>
> Yes, a New York paper.  I'm the world's foremost authority on Helen Green,
> and some years ago I tried to find a file of the Telegraph for the years she
> wrote for it (1905-1910 or thereabouts), but didn't succeed.  As I recall,
> the NYPL had it up to 1905, and after 1910.  It could be a good source for
> slang, since it devoted itself to the raffish elements of NYC culture.
> In its later decades, it was strictly a horse-player's organ, and was
> bought out and killed by the still-extant Racing Form in the 1950s.  But the
> Form doesn't have a file of the Telegraph from before the 1930s.
> Not to be confused with the NY Telegram, by the way.
>
> If SG has actually read The Actors' Boarding House, I will buy him a beer,
> should we ever meet.  We Helen Green fans are a small group, but intensely
> collegial.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Date: Friday, September 5, 2008 11:32 am
> Subject: Re: antedating (?) of "hep" 1907
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
> > 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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