Query: Slang "Cool!" in 1868?

Tue Nov 22 21:15:56 UTC 2011

Could have, but fortunately didn't.

 _Teeny-bopper_ indeed dates from the mid '60s.

JL

On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 4:00 PM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Query: Slang "Cool!" in 1868?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I read your cool "On Language" article. Cool. But if the Times kerfuffle
> broke out over anachronistic use of cool (modern sense, old timeframe) then
> I'd say you could have created one of your own by saying "white
> teeny-boppers circa 1952." To my knowledge there were no teeny-boppers,
> labeled as such, until the mid-60's. No?
> DAD
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> The example from Wilkie Collins was discussed here last year, when
> George Thompson brought our attention to a debate over "cool" in the
> letters to the editor section of TLS. I agreed with George's point
> that the Collins usage (like the 1860 Abraham Lincoln usage that also
> came up in the TLS discussion) fits the "audaciously impudent" meaning
> of the time and is a red herring when considering the more modern
> "cool." See my On Language column for more:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30FOB-onlanguage-t.html
>
> --bgz
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 2:09 PM, Baker, John wrote:
>>
>>        I have not read The Moonstone, but I take Mr. Bruff's comment to
> imply
>> that the narrator's plan embodies the calm temperament and discretion
> that,
>> I infer from the passage, he has not previously displayed.  The effect, in
> other
>> words, is much as if Mr. Bruff had said "Audacious!" (although I sense he
>> seeks calmness rather than audacity).
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:23 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Query: Slang "Cool!" in 1868?
>>
>> Dear ads-l members,
>>
>> I've received a query from Lewis Porter (Rutgers U. Professor of Music)
> concerning slang
>> "cool." He found what seems to be an example of this from 1868 and is
> wondering
>> about its validity.  Barry Popik and George Thompson have already provided
> some
>> input to him, and I suggested he should write to ads-l as a whole.  At his
>> request I now forward his query to you.  Jonathan, Jesse, would you have
> any
>> thoughts on this?
>>
>> Here is the message he sent me (in the quoted 1868 passage "Cool" comes
>> in the next-to-last paragraph).
>>
>>
>> > Hello Gerald,
>> > I trust you're well. George Thompson sent me some resources on this
>> > but I thought I'd run it past you as well. Now I've been looking into
>> > the word "cool." Prior to ca.1940, when it
>> > started to mean "Good" or "I agree!" in black jazz parlance, it had
>> > among its meanings "unflappable, calm in the face of danger," etc. BUT
>> > what do you make of the passage from The Moonstone (1868, Britain)
>> > pasted below? It certainly seems that in this case, contrary to what
>> > one would expect in this time and place, the word "cool" here means
>> > "Good!"
>> >
>> > I realize that it is more sensible to try and understand this in light
>> > of the current uses of "cool" in play in 1868, rather than as an
>> > isolated instance of a meaning not found elsewhere until 75 years
>> > later. I guess it would make more sense to try and interpret it as
>> > meaning "unflappable," etc. But I just couldn't see how the
>> > "unflappable" use applied here--specifically because the black use of
>> > it is often given as a one word exclamatory sentence--"Cool!"--whereas
>> > I know of no other instance of the "unflappable" meaning used as an
>> > exclamation--in fact it's quite odd to exclaim "Audacious!" when what
>> > is meant is "That would be quite audacious of you if you were to
>> > coolly do that"!!
>> >
>> > What do you think?
>> > All the best,
>> > Lewis
>> >
>> > Lewis Porter, Ph.D.
>> > Professor of Music/Jazz Pianist
>> > Director of the M.A. Program in Jazz History and Research
>> > Rutgers University
>> > Newark, NJ
>> > Lewisporter.com
>> > P.S.
>> > Here is the passage from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868; p342
>> > in my copy of the "revised"-really just fixed typos etc-1871 edition):
>> >
>> > "This is how it stands," he said. "I tell you fairly, I don't trust your
>> > discretion, and I don't trust your temper. But I do trust in Rachel's
>> > still preserving, in some remote little corner of her heart, a certain
>> > perverse weakness for YOU. Touch that--and trust to the consequences for
>> > the fullest disclosures that can flow from a woman's lips! The question
>> > is--how are you to see her?"
>> >
>> > "She has been a guest of yours at this house," I answered. "May I
>> > venture to suggest--if nothing was said about me beforehand--that I
>> > might see her here?"
>> >
>> > "Cool!" said Mr. Bruff. With that one word of comment on the reply that
>> > I had made to him, he took another turn up and down the room.
>> >
>> > "In plain English," he said, "my house is to be turned into a trap to
>> > catch Rachel; with a bait to tempt her, in the shape of an invitation
>> > from my wife and daughters. If you were anybody else but Franklin Blake,
>> > and if this matter was one atom less serious than it really is, I should
>> > refuse point-blank. As things are, I firmly believe Rachel will live
>> > to thank me for turning traitor to her in my old age. Consider me your
>> > accomplice. Rachel shall be asked to spend the day here; and you shall
>> > receive due notice of it."
>> >
>> > END
>>
>> > My occasional blog of my new jazz research:
>> > https://www.wbgo.org/blog/category/20877
>> >
>>
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>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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