[Ads-l] Musical Sense of "Hokum" Not in OED

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED has an entry for the word "hokum" as a vaudeville term meaning "low comedy."  Their first citation is from 1917, but I have antedated that as follows:

1906 _Evening World_ (N.Y.) 3 Mar. 9/5 (Newspapers.com)  What's sure-fire hokum? Well, it all depends. If it is for a lady star you can use two kinds of hokum.

There is another sense of "hokum" not in OED, referring to a "dirty blues" song using humorous sexual innuendos.  See Wikipedia for an article about this sense.  The earliest citation I have found is this classified advertisement for lessons:

1926 World-Herald (Omaha) 17 Sept. 16/3 (Newspapers.com)  POPULAR piano, orchestra, instruments, Blues, breaks, hokum.

Fred Shapiro





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