[Ads-l] Jigaboo (1910) Gigaboo (1900) Zigaboo (1896) Ji-ji-boo J. O'Shea (1909)

Mon Sep 12 14:36:05 UTC 2022

But why the space after the "a"?

JL

On Sun, Sep 11, 2022 at 8:21 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> About, with dropped t? Perhaps.
>
> Interesting find.
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2022 5:09:38 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Jigaboo (1910) Gigaboo (1900) Zigaboo (1896) Ji-ji-boo J.
> O'Shea (1909)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Jigaboo (1910) Gigaboo (1900) Zigaboo (1896) Ji-ji-boo J.
>               O'Shea (1909)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This cite seems relevant. Where the "bou" comes from, I can't say. This is
> the final stanza of a minstrel song called "Who Dare?"
>
> 1845_The Popular National Songster and Lucy Neal and Dan Tucker's Delight_
> (Phila.: John B. Perry) 156 [HathiTrust]:
>
> Go down to momo [sic] Dinah's,
>   Why yu tink we do ah!
> We play upon de banjo,
>   And dance a jig a bou, ah!
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Mar 3, 2022 at 1:26 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In March 2007, there were two threads here, one about =E2=80=9CJigaboo
> Ma=
> n 1911=E2=80=9D
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2007-March/068492.html
> >
> > and another about =E2=80=9CFiji Zigaboo,=E2=80=9D which was first
> mention=
> ed near the end
> > of the Jigaboo man thread.
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2007-March/068572.html
> >
> > There was a certain amount of confusion caused by some early uses of
> > =E2=80=9CJigaboo=E2=80=9D that were different from the well known
> meaning=
>  (more like
> > =E2=80=9Cbugaboo=E2=80=9D), and speculation about how the word
> eventually=
>  became associated
> > with black people.  I think I=E2=80=99ve found some of the missing
> pieces=
> .
> >
> > Both Gigaboo and Zigaboo pre-date the earliest uses of =E2=80=9CJigaboo=
> =E2=80=9D =E2=80=93 but
> > with different meanings.
> >
> > =E2=80=9CZigaboo=E2=80=9D dates to at least 1896, as the name of some
> sor=
> t f fraternal
> > organization, but I have only found two references to it.
> >
> > Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln), January 31, 1896, page 8.
> =E2=80=9CSeve=
> ral
> > members of the =E2=80=98Zigaboo=E2=80=99 society and their ladies were
> in=
>  Lincoln last
> > evening and attended the rendition of =E2=80=98Wang=E2=80=99 at the
> Funke=
> =E2=80=9D
> >
> > =E2=80=9CGigaboo,=E2=80=9D in the sense of a large monster =E2=80=93 a
> Gi=
> ant Bugaboo, perhaps,
> > dates to 1900, in the book, A New Wonderland, by L. Frank Baum, who
> > published The Wizard of Oz that same year.  A New Wonderland was
> rereleas=
> ed
> > in 1903, with a different title, some new content, and the place
> > =E2=80=9CWonderland=E2=80=9D renamed as the Valley of Mo, but still had
> t=
> he Gigaboo.
> > There=E2=80=99s no guide to pronunciation, but I surmise it would
> general=
> ly have
> > been understood as =E2=80=9Cjigaboo.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > A version of the book, entitled The Surprising Adventures of the Magical
> > Monarch of Mo and His People, reprinted in 1968 with a forward by Martin
> > Gardener is available for checkout on OpenLibrary.org and Archive.org.
> >
> > From that book, page 110.  =E2=80=9CIn one of the great hollows formed
> by=
>  the rock
> > candy lived a monstrous Gigaboo, completely shut in by the walls of its
> > cavern.  It had been growing and growing for so many years that it had
> > attained an enormous size . . . . Its body was round, like that of a
> > turtle, and on its back was a thick shell.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > It should be noted that a variant of =E2=80=9Cbugaboo=E2=80=9D spelled =
> =E2=80=9Cbigaboo=E2=80=9D was
> > common, if not frequent, during the same period.
> >
> > Neither =E2=80=9CZigaboo=E2=80=9D nor =E2=80=9CGigaboo=E2=80=9D appear
> in=
>  print often before 1910.  I
> > believe that both =E2=80=9CZigaboo=E2=80=9D and
> =E2=80=9CJigaboo=E2=80=9D=
>  after 1909 were influenced by the
> > song, =E2=80=9CJi-ji-boo J. O=E2=80=99Shea,=E2=80=9D which had its
> premie=
> r in 1909 in the show
> > =E2=80=9CMidnight Sons,=E2=80=9D and that the association of both of
> thos=
> e words with black
> > people was derived from the story told in that song, and representations
> =
> of
> > it on stage.
> >
> > Some of the early uses of =E2=80=9CJigaboo,=E2=80=9D as in the song =E2=
> =80=9CJigaboo Man=E2=80=9D
> > mentioned in the 2007 ADS-L thread, were used to mean a sort of bugaboo =
> =E2=80=93
> > or boogie man, influenced by songs like the =E2=80=9CYama Yama Man=E2=80=
> =9D and similar
> > songs of the same period, and consistent with prior use of Gigaboo and
> > bigaboo.
> >
> > The earliest such use I=E2=80=99ve seen is from 1910, but not related to
> =
> a song by
> > that name.  Centralia Fireside Guard (Centralia, Missouri), November 4,
> > 1910, page 4. =E2=80=9CWhenever Columbia gets after an appropriation or
> a=
>  levy or
> > anythi8ng to help her material prosperity or that of the school which
> wag=
> s
> > the old town, she begins to bawl about the inferiority of the present
> > things or conditions.  They try to scare us with the =E2=80=98Jigaboo
> Man=
> =E2=80=99 into a
> > fit and when we =E2=80=98come out of it=E2=80=99 we wonder how it all
> hap=
> pened.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > As for the song, full title, =E2=80=9CRings on her Fingers, or Mumbo
> Jumb=
> o
> > Ji-ji-boo J. O=E2=80=99Shea,=E2=80=9D it tells the story of an Irishman
> s=
> tranded on an East
> > Indies island who is made the chief nabob of the island.  An
> advertisemen=
> t
> > for a recording of the song shows someone wearing a grass skirt, a
> feathe=
> r
> > in their hair, a headband, giant hoop earring, bands on the upper arm, an
> > ankle bracelet, bare feet, and holding a giant club.  Presumably those
> > characters were played on stage in blackface, and perhaps more like an
> > African tribe than one in the East Indies.
> >
> > Some uses of Jigaboo and Zigaboo simply relate back to the name of the
> > song.  In 1914, an amateur baseball player with the last name Mayo was
> > referred to as =E2=80=9CZigaboo=E2=80=9D Mayo (rhymes with Ji-ji-boo J.
> O=
> =E2=80=99).  IN 1922, a
> > pitcher for the San Francisco Seals with the last name O=E2=80=99Shea
> was=
>  known as
> > =E2=80=9CPatrick Jumbo Jigaboo Jay O=E2=80=99Shea.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > Some uses related to a remote location, like the East Indies isle where
> > Ji-Ji-boo J O=E2=80=99Shea lived.  In 1914, the left field bleachers at
> a=
>  baseball
> > park in Memphis was referred to as =E2=80=9CZigaboo land,=E2=80=9D which
> =
> is unexplained.
> > But the expression =E2=80=9Cout in left field=E2=80=9D derives from a
> sen=
> se of its being
> > remote, so it could mean that here.  It might also refer to segregated
> > seating, but that is not clear either.  The Commercial Appeal, May 25,
> > 1914, page 9; Commercial Appeal, June 29, page 12.
> >
> > In 1915, a syndicated comic strip, Lord Longbow, used
> =E2=80=9CZigaboo=E2=
> =80=9D as the
> > name of an island with dark-skinned islanders.  In the first panel, it is
> > spelled =E2=80=9CZizaboo Island,=E2=80=9D but in the last panel, it
> refer=
> s to =E2=80=9Cthe Chief
> > Zigaboo=E2=80=9D (drawn with dark skin).  In 1924, in the comic strip
> not=
> ed in the
> > 2007 threads, a woman refers to someone as =E2=80=9Chomely as a Fiji
> Ziga=
> boo,=E2=80=9D
> > consistent with =E2=80=9CZigaboo=E2=80=9D being related to a tropical
> isl=
> and.
> >
> > In 1914, a comedy team of Claude Durkee & Billy Dayton appeared in a
> > =E2=80=9CDouble Dutch Comedy=E2=80=9D entitled, =E2=80=9CThe King of
> Giga=
> boo.=E2=80=9D  Hutchinson News
> > (Hutchinson, Kansas), January 9, 1914, page 8.  I found only one
> referenc=
> e
> > to that act, and no descriptions of the plot, but it seems plausible that
> > it could have been about the King of some remote island.
> >
> > The earliest example I=E2=80=99ve seen of either jigaboo or zigaboo used
> =
> to refer
> > unambiguously to a black person appeared in 1917, in poem first published
> > in Memphis, and which was picked up and reprinted widely in Kansas and
> > Oklahoma about six months later.  The poem ridicules a black soldier who
> > enlisted for the infantry, but has many reasons to avoid the Navy, Air
> > Corps, Artillery and the Cavalry.
> >
> > =E2=80=9CThe Place to Serve. Sam Green is a regular soldier man, Of
> Afric=
> an
> > descent; The world is bright when Sam can fight With a Zigaboo regiment.=
> =E2=80=9D
> > Commercial Appeal (Memphis), July 8, 1917, page 5.
> >
> > The earliest, apparent, =E2=80=9CJigaboo=E2=80=9D I=E2=80=99ve seen in
> th=
> at sense is from 1921.
> > New Castle Herald (Pennsylvania), August 12, 1921, page 4. =E2=80=9CHow
> c=
> ome?
> > Jigaboo slashed so requires 52 stitches to close wounds, said he was =E2=
> =80=98only
> > foolin=E2=80=99.=E2=80=99 What=E2=80=99s his idea of a real good
> time?=E2=
> =80=9D
> >
> > Beginning in 1922, and every year through at least 1927, the all-black
> > comedy revue headed by Garland Howard and =E2=80=9CSpeedy=E2=80=9D Smith
> =
> performed a skit
> > in which the main characters were transported in a dream to a place
> calle=
> d
> > =E2=80=9CZigaboo Land,=E2=80=9D with beautiful women, cannibals and a
> jea=
> lous =E2=80=9CKing
> > Zigaboo.=E2=80=9D  In 1925, their company would become the first
> all-blac=
> k act in
> > decades to sign a contract with the Columbia Burlesque Circuit, which
> gav=
> e
> > them more and better bookings in bigger cities and theaters.
> >
> > The Boston Globe, October 31, 1922, page 6.  =E2=80=9CThe second act is
> m=
> uch
> > better than the first, and shows the adventures of Jack Stovall (Speedy
> > Smith) and Hot Stuff Jackson (Garland Howard) on the inhospitable island
> =
> of
> > Zigaboo.  The dusky beauties who =E2=80=98shake a wicked hat stack=E2=80=
> =99 vamp poor
> > Stovall until he falls into the clutches of the cannibals and is
> sentence=
> d
> > to die by King Zigaboo (Sam Cook).=E2=80=9D
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3D550986> for
> Wind=
> ows
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
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> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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>
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