[Ads-l] Fw: Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"

Mon Sep 12 10:14:14 UTC 2022

Truly extraordinary discoveries, Ben.

I tried searching the Harvard Crimson for "pizzazz" but got nowhere.  What's with the Harvard Crimson archives ?  I know it was one of the earliest digitized student newspapers and is thus primitive, but I find it impossible to get early search results from it.  Is there some trick I am missing ?

In general, I think digitized student newspapers are the last frontier of online historical-lexicographical research, i.e., hope of finding good antedatings not already covered by Newspapers.com and other major databases.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2022 3:52 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"

Following Fred's lead, I looked for other "pizzazz" variants in the Yale
Daily News archive and found "pizzaz" back to 1935.

---
https://ydnhistorical.library.yale.edu/?a=d&d=YDN19351004-01.2.21
Yale Daily News, Oct. 4, 1935, p. 4, col. 1
Many an All-American has paled into insignificance on the scales and many a
Colossus has lacked what _faute de mieux_ is know[n] by the name of
"pizzaz." Taken as a unit the Yale line is heavy but comparatively green.
The record they compile in the suicide schedule that lies ahead will depend
on just how fast they are able to get across the line, just how much they
can carry the fight to their opponents, in short just how much pizzaz they
can muster and keep mustered.
---
https://ydnhistorical.library.yale.edu/?a=d&d=YDN19360122-01.2.23
Yale Daily News, Jan. 22, 1936, p. 4, col. 1
In practice yesterday this line was showing some of the old "pizzaz" that
should carry them into the scoring columns.
---

"Pazaz" also appeared in the YDN sports pages in early 1937.

---
https://ydnhistorical.library.yale.edu/?a=d&d=YDN19370118-01.2.27
Yale Daily News, Jan. 18, 1937, p. 4, col. 3
This year Holc York figured that Clint would have a lot more zip, a little
more pazaz (I think that's the Miltonic word), if he were prevented from
expending all his energy in practice sessions.
---

--bgz

On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 3:34 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> An item in the March 1937 issue of Harper's Bazaar titled "This Thing
> Called Pizazz" (pp. 116-7) appears to have inspired ad copy in the New York
> Times and elsewhere in late February. (The 2/26/37 NYT ad from The Tailored
> Woman and a 2/28/37 ad in the New York Herald Tribune from Bonwit Teller
> both credit HB for "pizazz.") It's fair to assume the March issue was
> circulating by the end of February, as is typical in fashion magazine
> publishing. Vogue's famous "September issue," for instance, hits
> newsstands in mid-August.
>
> I see the OED2 "pizzazz" entry used the HB item for its first cite:
>
> ---
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oed.com%2Foed2%2F00180470&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C16215130fe554fc4b97708da9493c860%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637985659683635091%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6D8boQJiL%2BDnnJs%2FGZcRhDYJop7lZYmCyIhxwGxQTkY%3D&reserved=0
> 1937 Harper's Bazaar Mar. 116/2 Pizazz, to quote the editor of the Harvard
> Lampoon, is an indefinable dynamic quality, the je ne sais quoi of
> function; as for instance, adding Scotch puts pizazz into a drink. Certain
> clothes have it, too.‥ There's pizazz in this rust evening coat.
> ---
>
> In the OED3 entry, this cite has been removed and replaced with the
> 2/26/37 NYT ad, which Fred first shared here in 2010:
>
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2010-September%2F102735.html&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C16215130fe554fc4b97708da9493c860%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637985659683635091%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=vX%2F0zTa7%2B09c%2FIPA3twsidiEqqxqjxNeU1Z%2FhLAi04c%3D&reserved=0
>
> Given that the NYT ad uses the same heading as the Mar. '37 HB item ("This
> Thing Called Pizazz"), it would make sense to credit HB as the earlier
> cite, on the assumption that the actual publication date preceded the cover
> date. But this is somewhat of a moot point now that Fred has located the
> 2/23/37 YDN cite that doesn't rely on Harper's Bazaar at all, suggesting it
> was already Ivy League slang. A search of the Harvard Lampoon archive may
> still trump the Yalies, however.
>
> As we've discussed in the past, "pizzazz" had a number of earlier
> variants. One of these is "pazzazza" (or "pazazza"), which appears in the
> databases with various slang meanings going back to c1902. (There was a
> musical recording called "The Pazzazza Promenade" in 1910.) This example
> from 1932 indicates that "pazzazza" could be used with the same "peppy"
> meaning later associated with "pizzazz."
>
> ---
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Fclip%2F109405124%2Fpazzazza%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C16215130fe554fc4b97708da9493c860%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637985659683635091%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OXCYEHZn8jYN6MuetkRacFVgnK7P%2BZ9b78TDrlbztKo%3D&reserved=0
> Evening News (Harrisburg, Pa.), Oct. 26, 1932, p. 10, col. 2
> "The Once Over" by H.I. Phillips [NY Sun column syndicated by Associated
> Newspapers]
> The presidential campaign is boring people. It lacks hot-cha. ... The
> campaign has had no pace, no pep, no pazzazza.
> ---
>
> Perhaps worth a bracketed cite in the OED entry.
>
> --bgz
>
> On Sun, Sep 11, 2022 at 9:36 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>>
>

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