[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"

Mon Sep 12 12:16:27 UTC 2022

Great work Fred and Ben.
Back in June 2022 there was a thread on this mailing list about the
notion that slang terms often appear in the names of racehorses.

There was a horse named Fizazz who ran at the Saratoga racetrack in
1934 and 1935. There are many matches for this horse name in
newspapers.com. There are matches in 1940, too.

Date: August 17, 1934
Newspaper: The Boston Globe
Newspaper Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Article: Tomorrow's Entries
News Service: Associated Press
Quote Page 21, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
SARATOGA
...
SIXTH RACE 5 1/2 furlongs (10); Sun Idol, 115; Dancing Cloud, 115;
Star Shadow, 115; Epaulet, 115; Nautch, 115; Over-stimulate, 115;
Broken Up, 115; Scatter Brain, 115; Fizzaz, 112; Cubist, 115.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Sep 12, 2022 at 3:52 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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://www.oed.com/oed2/00180470
> > 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://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-September/102735.html
> >
> > 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://www.newspapers.com/clip/109405124/pazzazza/
> > 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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