"spoofy" and "shimming" in Utah, 1919

[Wilson Gray]

On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 1:28 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu> wrote:
> [I]f a newspaper editor knew that in his region "jazz" was known as an obscenity, when "jazz" became a national musical fad, he would have shown some embarrassment in printing the word, or would have refused to print it at all. Â Here we have the student paper in Salt Lake City printing "jass orchestra" and "jazzing", with no qualms, to add to a number of other papers, north & south, east & west, that printed the word before 1920.

Your logic is impeccable. However, it raises - or should that be
"begs"? (for those with no sense of humor, the question is meant to be
interpreted as facetious and not as a genuine request for guidance) -
the question: how and when did _jass_ / _jazz_ come to take on, for a
brief period, the relevant meaning?

OTOH, one might argue that, given that Mormons are not known to get
down, even today, perhaps the editor was simply unhip.

--
-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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