[Ads-l] Zoot (antedatings, 1940-1941)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

In July 2021, Stephen Goranson brought up the standalone "zoot" and its
presumed presence in jazz culture in the 1930s (
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2021-July/160089.html).

Given that Fred Shapiro has recently antedated "zoot suit" (5 August 1941,
Los Angeles; see
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2025-April/166929.html),
I thought it might be interesting to look for these earlier uses.

By the way, the OED holds that the word's origin is uncertain, but offers
that "suit" may be the etymon for "zoot" as in "zoot suit." (Its entries
for "zoot" and "zooty" are dependent on "zoot suit.")

A 2017 revision of the entry for "zoot suit" mentions that "[a]n
alternative derivation is noted by R. S. Gold Jazz Lexicon (1964) 351–2 who
records that ‘according to jazzman Zutty Singleton, the term ['zoot'] was
New Orleans patois for 'cute’, which is said to have had some currency
c1925–45, but no evidence is given to support this assertion. An
interjection 'zoot,' used to express encouragement shouted by fans to jive
musicians as they perform, or (more generally) to express recognition,
agreement, or satisfaction, is recorded in some U.S. slang dictionaries,
e.g. H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (ed. 2, 1975) 595/1, as
having some limited currency among jazz fans c1935–40, but again without
supporting evidence."

Perhaps what follows will fill in some holes.

--------------------------

"Zoot," he filled it in for us. "Zoot's the new word for hep; you can use
it as you like."

[Kevin Wallace, "Play by Play" column, The San Francisco Examiner, 23 June
1941, p. 16;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-zoot-623/171416851/.
Wallace was quoting the Andrews Sisters' "coast manager." Wallace then uses
"zoot" with reference to the Andrews Sisters themselves.]

--------------------------

"Zoot zoody zoot"

[The title of an unpublished song copyrighted on 2 October 1940;
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalog_of_Copyright_Entries/mStjAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=zoot&pg=PA1352&printsec=frontcover.
It's unclear whether this is related to "hep" or something else.]

--------------------------

Music hath charm to soothe the savage breast,
Sweet sentiments of swing, and jazz, and rag.
We can't help feeling nobler after ditties.
Like "Zig Me, Baby, With a Gentle Zag."

Ah, play the intellectual "Java Jive"
And let me hear "Zoot! Zoot!" before I die --
Which, we believe, will not be long delayed
If we hear one more song.
"Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi!"

[D.L.K. "Wise and Otherwise," Spokane Daily Chronicle, 21 April 1941, p. 4;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/spokane-chronicle-zoot-4211941/171417109/
.]

--------------------------

(This column is sponsored by zoot. Drink zoot and be the life of the party.
Zoot is 99 and 44/110ths percent P-U. It bloats.)

[At the bottom of Wilma Cockrell's "Jam Session" piece, The California
Eagle (Los Angeles),  24 July 1941, p. 2-B;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-zoot-7241941/171417045/.
No idea how to interpret the above.]

--------------------------

By the way, you can find slightly later (October 1941) examples of "zoot"
in jazz contexts at
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-leader-zoot-10281941/171417204/
and
https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-pittsburgh-courier-zoot-and-others/171417994/
.


As the OED indicates (above), the nickname of jazz drummer Arthur James
"Zutty" -- pronounced "Zootee" -- Singleton (1898-1975) has been said to
mean "cute" in New Orleans patois, though no evidence has been provided for
this. FWIW, I've found an example of the use of "Zuti" as a nickname for a
New Orleans man who looks to have been about 50 in 1963:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-louisiana-weekly-edward-zuti-earl/171553461/
.

Also anecdotally, The New York Times's 1985 obituary of jazz saxophonist
John Haley "Zoot" Sims includes this: "He acquired his nickname when he was
15 [ca. 1941] and playing tenor saxophone in Kenny Baker's band in
California. Each music stand in front of the musicians was decorated with
an outlandish name. Mr. Sims sat down behind a stand that said, 'Zoot,' and
the name stuck" (
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/24/nyregion/zoot-sims-59-saxophonist-renowned-in-jazz.html).
I don't know whether this was pre- or post-"zoot suit."

Now, there are several appearances of "zoot" for "suit" in newspaper
columns from the '30s (e.g.,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/dekalb-county-record-journal-zoot-hum/171418248/),
but these seem to be attempts at a "humorous immigrant pronunciation" of
"suit" or a Michigan columnist's quirky substitution for "suit." Both are
unrelated to the jazz scene of the period.

Finally, I don't have access to the various privately printed editions of
Cab Calloway's  _The New Cab Calloway’s Cat-ologue: A Hepster’s
Dictionary_, but my impression is that "zoot" wasn't in the earliest (1938
and 1939) and may have only been included in the last one(s), so around
1944, and then perhaps only included as part of "zoot suit."

I think it's possible that "zoot" and "zooty" circulated among hepsters in
the 1930s, perhaps mostly in California, but that it was rarely captured in
print before the zoot suit emerged. Where it came from is unclear, but I
think it's safe to say that "zoot" itself wasn't based on "suit."

-- Bonnie

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