More "jazz" etymythology

[Wilson Gray]

You can't make this shit up! <har! har!>


On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      More "jazz" etymythology
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From Bruce Price, on The Week:
>
> ---
> http://theweek.com/article/index/241754/is-j-the-sexiest-letter
> http://news.yahoo.com/j-sexiest-letter-130100766.html
> **Jazz was sexual slang before it was music. "Jas" was a Creole brothel
> where jezebels worked. Music for the clients became known as "Jas music",
> sometimes "Jass music." When the word "Jass" was printed on posters, the
> letter "J" was sometimes crossed out for a joke. Promoters knew "ass music"
> was offensive, so the spelling moved from "Jass" to "Jazz", hence "Jazz
> music."
> ---
>
> This is a variant on the unsubstantiated lore given here:
>
> ---
> http://www.gmc.edu/library/neworleans/NOjazz.htm
> Storyville is often given credit with giving the name to jazz. It seems the
> women of the brothels, in an effort to counter the smells of the swampy
> city, would wear Jasmine perfume. When one left the company of the lady
> smelling of jasmine, one was said to be =93jassed.=94 When musicians at the
> brothels would make their music sexy to inspire customers, they were said
> to have =93jassed,=94 or sexed, up the music. Brothel owners would
> advertis=
> e
> their musicians with signs that would announce =93Live Jass.=94 When
> mischievous children would come along and wipe off the =93j,=94 owners
> deci=
> ded
> to change the =93s=94=92s to =93z=94=92s in an effort not to offend people.
> ---
>
> I see The Week's version of events has been added to the Wikipedia page (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_%28word%29) -- though I'm sure John
> Baker
> or another vigilant Wikipedian will revise it soon enough.
>
> --bgz
>
> --=20
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org