copasetic 1920 and Re: [ADS-L] copasetic, was Re: [ADS-L] Readex Newspapers

[Stephen Goranson]

"Copasetic" is earliest attested in a popular fictionalized biography
of Abraham
Lincoln. So the proposal here is that the use of "copasetic" was "picked up"
ultimately from that best-selling book.

The Chicago Tribune has what may be the earliest reported reuse after the uses
in the 1919 book. Note that the 1920 use retains the 1919 spelling; spellings
later (with oral transmission?) varied considerably.

Chicago Tribune [provides a heading for a real classified ad in The Times,
Thursday, Jul 22, 1920; pg. 4; Issue 42469; col B]

A LINE O' TYPE OR TWO
Hew to the Line, let the quips fall where they may
....
VERY COPASETIC
[From the London Times]
Good position--French lady, cooks herself, speaks English, beautiful climate;
exchange of money favourable; good references.Dejardin, 15, Porte Gayole,
Boulogne


Stephen



Quoting Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>:

> Stephen writes:
>
> "[_Copasetic_] was then picked up in African American use (especially,
> early on, in New York)."
>
>
> Does anyone have any idea of how this picking-up occurred?
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 9:01 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
>> Subject:      copasetic, was Re: [ADS-L] Readex Newspapers
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I, along with many others, searched for copasetic (and copesetic, copacetic,
>> copecetic, kopasetee and so on) but have found nothing published
>> before 1919,
>> claimed memories notwithstanding.
>>
>> Searching included some use of Anatoly Liberman's helpful new A
>> Bibliography of
>> English Etymology (U. of Minnesota Press, 2010).
>>
>> One Google Books result I hadn't seen before is Michael Gold, "Hoboken
>> Blues, or
>> the Black Rip van Winkle" in The American Caravan, volume 1 (NY, 1927)
>> 548-626.
>> [confirmed in a paper copy]
>>
>> p.572
>> Dat's copesetic, Barney; wow. (Cuts a caper.)
>>
>> p.579
>> Ee-yah, copesetic!
>>
>> p.580
>> Ain't it copesetic? (He stops in full flight for a second, looking
>> at her for
>> approval.)
>>
>> p.602
>> Say, won't factories be jes copesetic?
>>
>> My hypotheses (detailed in the ads-l archives) is that Irving
>> Bacheller, author
>> of the widely-read A Man for the Ages (1919) coined the word. It was then
>> picked up in African American use (especially, early on, in New York).
>>
>> So, Fred, yes, please, search African-African newspapers for copasetic
>> (et sim.)
>> as a test of the hypothesis. Thanks.
>>
>> The hypothesis can easily be falsified. I wonder, at what point (possible
>> continued) negative pre-1919 results, along with the positive
>> arguments (e.g.,
>> the way Bacheller introduced and used copasetic, as well as coralapus) might
>> lead to acceptance?
>>
>> Stephen Goranson
>> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>>
>>
>> Quoting "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>:
>>
>>> I have temporary access to the full range of Readex newspapers and
>>> African-American newspapers.  If anyone has any terms or phrases they
>>> want me to search, please let me know and I'll try my best.
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>> Joel S. Berson [Berson at ATT.NET]
>>> Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 2:13 PM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Subject: "African American Newspapers, 1827-1998"
>>>
>>> There appears to be a new offering via the New England Historic
>>> Genealogical Society out of Readex's Archive of America (at least I
>>> hadn't noticed it before today).  Listed now in addition to
>>> "America's Historical Newspapers" [the NEHGS only subscribes to"Early
>>> American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690-1876"] is "African American
>>> Newspapers, 1827-1998".
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> -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.
> –Mark Twain
>
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>

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