[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I should add that I know about the phrase "on the pazzazz," which is earlier than 1937.  But I am interested in the modern, positive usage.

Fred Shapiro


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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2022 9:36 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"

The origins of the word "pizzazz" are a bit mysterious.  The OED's first citation is from the New York Times, Feb. 26, 1937, and the Times attributed the term to the Harvard Lampoon and Harper's Bazaar.  But no one has found prior citations in the Lampoon or HB.

A slightly earlier citation points to a different Ivy League school:

1937 _Yale Daily News_ 23 Feb. 4/3 (Yale Daily News Historical Archive)  That the Blues were potentially better skaters cannot be doubted, but somehow they lacked the old pizzazz down on the Arena ice last night.

Fred Shapiro

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