[Ads-l] jelly

[Ben Zimmer]

Green's Dictionary of Slang has a remarkably early "jelly" citation from a
story by Carlos Martinez (pseudonym of Charles M. Martin), "Gats in the
Hat," in the Sep. 1931 issue of the pulp magazine _Gun Molls_: "'You’re
just jelly.' 'Yes, I’m jealous,' she admitted. 'I don’t like it when you
have your arms around that snaky dame.'"

Earliest example I know from rap music is the 1999 song "Waterworld" by
Handsome Boy Modeling School (with bonus PB&J wordplay): "Workin for
peanuts amongst jelly MC's, really ain't my steez."


On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 7:59 AM, Yagoda, Ben <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:

> Urban Dictionary posted a definition of "jelly" as jealous as early as
> 2006:
>
> To be jealous of another human or creature.
> "mang, you gots the new kanye cd?!....GUUUUUUURL i'm TOTALLY JELLY !"
>
>
> Sent from my phone
>
> On Jan 16, 2017, at 7:28 AM, David Barnhart <dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM<mailt
> o:dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Poster:       David Barnhart <dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM<mailto:
> dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>>
> Subject:      Re: jelly
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> Nice catch, Jonathan,
>
> Age of the character caught speaking?
>
> Happy New Year,
> David
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Monday, January 16, 2017 5:43 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: jelly
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:
> wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>>
> Subject:      jelly
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> ---
>
> 'Jealous.'
>
> 2017 _Sleepy Hollow_ (Fox-TV) (Jan. 13): You're just jelly because teacher
> didn't give you a gold star too.
>
> JL
>
>

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