[Ads-l] Wikipedia Claim About "Jazz"

[Baker, John]

I try to keep an eye on changes to the Wikipedia article on "Jazz (word)" (which, as some may recall, I originally drafted), but that one slipped by me.  As it happens, the cited source does say that Holbrook found "jazz" used in the San Francisco Bulletin in 1906.  But since that seems not to be the case, I have deleted the statement from the Wikipedia article.


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Sent: Monday 25 March 2019 8:54 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Wikipedia Claim About "Jazz"

External Email - Think Before You Click


Stephen and Fred are justified in their skepticism

of the supposed March 3, 1906 attestation of "jazz"

in the San Francisco Bulletin (supposedly located by Holbrook).


To be clear: That supposed 1906 attestation does not

exist. And Dick Holbrook certainly never suggested

it did. Holbrook's most important discovery was

an April 5, 1913 article in the San Francisco Bulletin

in which "jazz" is described as "a futurist word which

has just joined the language."


If the writer of the Wikipedia item would like any guidance on this, I'll be happy to provide it.


Gerald Cohen

author of _Origin of the Term "Jazz"_, 2015.

(includes the detailed contributions of

ads-l members)

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2019 7:20 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Wikipedia Claim About "Jazz"

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Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Wikipedia Claim About "Jazz"
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Others here know more about jazz than I, but I suspect an error, perhaps a =
typo. The 1903 claim apparently was added in a 12 Feb. 2019 edit by Vmavant=
i, who is apparently a senior editor, and claimed to have added "sourced ma=
terial." (A wiki vet maybe could contact him or her.) But this is not clear=
ly sourced. Was it putatively Dick Horton but mentioned in an unnoticed pub=
lication (such as a letter to Storyville?) or Horton orally as re-reported =
by Richard M. Sudhalter (Lost Chords, a 2001 book)? It's hard to imagine th=
at any such report went unnoticed till last month. Also, besides the early =
1903 date, at least in the snippet quoted, it seems a later development, as=
if jazz is already understood, and this is a special extreme form of it. B=
ut others know more.


SG

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapir=
o, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2019 6:36:43 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] Wikipedia Claim About "Jazz"

I notice the Wikipedia article on "Jazz (Word)" makes the following asserti=
on: "Holbrook found a reference in sports section the March 3, 1906 San Fra=
ncisco Bulletin<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__en.w=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__en.w=>
ikipedia.org_wiki_San-5FFrancisco-5FBulletin&d=3DDwIFAw&c=3DimBPVzF25OnBgGm=
VOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=3DuUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--=
8&m=3D8rba8kicL-iZQqYO4Ev_IbDgqOZeqZftDVllzueDqZw&s=3DTSnGO2DbBvIkw-iOjEQ9S=
0nQ5HKYh3qErk7TRw1Ua_s&e=3D> in which a baseball player is 'very much in th=
e jazz', i.e. enthusiastic." Is this just a complete error or fabrication?


Fred Shapiro

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