Antedating of "Hepcat"

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 3:46 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>>
>> hepcat (OED 1938)
>>
>> 1937 _Wash. Post_ 17 Nov. 16 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  According to
>> music lovers, 1937 vintage, Eddie is a "hep cat" which means that he tosses
>> out a mean mess of swing.
>
> books.google.com/books?id=0oRUAAAAYAAJ
> The Virginia spectator - Volume 1 - Page 150
> University of Virginia - _September, 1937_ - Snippet view - More editions
> (In the jargon of the musical world, a _hep cat_ is one who is in the
> KNOW, and knows he is in the KNOW; an icky was described at length in
> the last issue of " Canned Swing").esults (0.13 seconds)

It looks like Sept. '37 is the date of the first issue in the volume,
but the issue covers the whole '37-'38 school year. That quote appears
to be in an early '38 issue, so I don't think it beats the WaPo cite.
(_Cab Calloway's Cat-alogue_ was published in '38, so the Virginia
Spectator writer may have been cribbing from that.)

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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