Jabib

[Joan H. Hall]

Here is DARE's entry for "Jabib."


Jabib n Also Jabip, Japip; rarely Jaboot
NJ, sePA

Also in comb Fifth and Japip: An imaginary, extremely remote place.

1983 Lutz Coll. neNJ, It was in the 1950s that I heard Ramsey High
School pupils say such things as, “She lives way back of Jabib,” and,
“You have to go way out in Jabib.” I heard one of the teachers use the
word in 1973. . . It obviously meant “the boondocks” or “back of
beyond.” 1984 NADS Letters sePA, Jabib—My wife and her relatives in West
Chester, Pennsylvania, use this term. It is pronounced [ǰəbɪp]. It is
commonly used to describe a long and drawn-out shopping trip for a
hard-to-get item: “I had to go all the way to Jabip and back to get this
one.” Ibid Philadelphia PA, My boss is a 35-year-old white man from
Philadelphia. He has mentioned the phrase “Fifth and Japip” as a phrase
that he used in his youth. “Fifth and Japip” was a mythical intersection
supposed to be out in the middle of nowhere. Ibid sePA, She doesn’t live
near here, she lives past Fifth and Japip [ǰəˈpɪp]. Ibid cnNJ, We used
it only as East Jabib (pronounced [ǰəˈbɪb]), and it meant—still
means—“way-out-who-knows-where.” 1986 DSNA Letters neNJ, Jabib. . . My
family and I used this word and the word jaboot . . to refer to a place
remote by distance or from amenities, as in “from here to jabib;” “from
here to jaboot;” “from jabib to jaboot” (or vice versa); or “He lives
way out in jabib (or jaboot).” 1991 DARE File sNJ, sePA, “To go from
here to Japip” means to take forever to get somewhere or do something.
The expression has been used in the Philadelphia, southern New Jersey,
and Delaware Valley area since about 1900, and is still common there.
1992 NADS Letters Philadelphia PA, My Philly friends say by Fifth and
Japip. Ibid sePA, I am from Philadelphia. . . The expression I’ve mostly
heard is “he lives at Fifth and Japip”, meaning: out of the way, or “God
knows where”. 1992 DARE File Philadelphia PA, Have heard of “You can go
to ‘Japip’ as far as I am concerned”—in other words, the land of
nowhere! Just a slang expression of dislike. Ibid nNJ (as of 1960s), He
lives way out in East Jabib—in the middle of nowhere.

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