[Ads-l] Antedating of "Ax" (Musical Instrument)

[Ben Zimmer]

As a courtesy to those without the requisite subscription (and to help keep
track of citations for future reference), it's always good to provide links
to Newspapers.com clippings. Here is the 1952 article on "Coolspeak" with
an accompanying glossary that includes the "ax" definition.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greensboro-record-coolspeak/179745638/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greensboro-record-coolspeak-2/179745685/


On Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Personal subscriptions to Newspapers.com have been available with different
> levels of access. The most comprehensive  includes a supplementary database
> called publisher’s extra. The basic subscription did not include
> publisher’s extra. I do not know whether this system still exists.
>
> The company may now force new subscribers to obtain full access, but legacy
> institutional subscriptions might not include the publisher’s extra
> database . Garson
>
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Stephen,
> >
> > I got this citation through a personal subscription to Newspapers.com.  I
> > believe the personal subscription covers sources not available through
> the
> > institutional access.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Stephen Goranson <00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Monday, August 25, 2025 5:15 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: Antedating of "Ax" (Musical Instrument)
> >
> > As a former trumpet player, this caught my eye. I failed to find it on
> > newspapers.com via Duke. Is this another case of different versions of a
> > search engine?
> > Ax from sax, then trumpet, before the electric guitar dominance era is
> > possible, I suppose, though I also wonder about the context--"usually"?
> >
> > sg
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 4:13 PM Shapiro, Fred <
> > 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > ax (OED, n1, 5., 1955)
> > >
> > > 1952 Greensboro (N.C.) Record 24 May 1 / 4 (Newspapers.com0
> > >
> > > Ax — A musical instrument; usually a trumpet.
> > >
>

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