Jabib

[Dan Goncharoff]

Just a thought -- the terms Jarib and Jarobus were used to refer to a
geographic area, but no one is certain which geographic area. Maybe
Assyria, maybe not. It might have been an influence on Jabib.

DanG


On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Joan H. Hall <jdhall at wisc.edu> wrote:

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> Poster:       "Joan H. Hall" <jdhall at WISC.EDU>
> Subject:      Jabib
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> 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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