[Ads-l] "Cool your jets" [Slight antedating to 1967]

Bonnie Taylor-Blake b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM
Fri Nov 2 13:47:31 UTC 2018


In case we've not done this recently ...

OED shares something from January, 1973 as its earliest example of "to cool
one's jets," with the meaning "to calm down; to become less excited or
agitated."

Here are some sightings from the late 1960s.

VOCABULARY LESSON number II: If you want someone to "cool it" you must go
all out and say "cool your JETS." [From Esteban, "Action at A.H.S.," The
Algona (Iowa) Upper Des Moines, 28 February 1967, p. 4. Looks like Esteban
was writing about slang used at Algona High School.]

Cool your jets -- (take it easy) [From "Slang Clang," The Racine
(Wisconsin) Journal-Times, 2 August 1967, p. 4B.]

Look to soul language for this year's additions, including such expressions
as "Hang in there" (You know, encourage your teammates) and "Cool your
jets" (we used to say "Shut up.") [From "Wisconsin Teens Will Stick With
Same Fads in '69," The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), 3 February 1969,
p. 2.]

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



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