[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"

Mon Sep 12 17:34:48 UTC 2022

Fred Shapiro wrote:
> Shapiro's Law seems quite applicable here.  More striking than
> Fizazz is the fact that the Pittsburgh Press, June 11, 1930
> (Newspapers.com) records a race horse named Pizaz.

Excellent discovery, Fred.
The June 11, 1930 article containing Pizaz seems to be about dog
racing. So it might be appropriate to generalize the rule: slang terms
often appear in the names of racing animals.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109422804/pizaz/

[Begin excerpt]
Also ran—Jerry Ray, Buster Line, Running Fox, Pizaz, Jack Lane.
[End excerpt]

Garson

> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Monday, September 12, 2022 8:16 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Slight Antedating of "PIzzazz"
>
> 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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oed.com%2Foed2%2F00180470&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C1e9f38ce08714ec291cd08da94b8a753%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637985818047108046%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3XyKznMKt8vtvcY3zGxN8%2BTI1VRaQ%2FC%2FC1v7qAb1iNc%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%7C1e9f38ce08714ec291cd08da94b8a753%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637985818047108046%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3f%2BVicoEmBSOEygyeF01TGES%2FT9y%2F9nWhHC43UMM9zA%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%7C1e9f38ce08714ec291cd08da94b8a753%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637985818047108046%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Giq8kD41g428PrIujyGzADPx%2BlWUgAgwWR1wavNs1Aw%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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