[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of "Cool" (African American / Jazz Sense)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Given the July date and lack of a/c in 1933,  maybe the Elks hall simply
had more fans and higher ceilings.

JL

On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM Ben Zimmer <
00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Looking through other contemporary examples from the Pittsburgh Courier,
> I'm more convinced that the use of "coolest" in Fred's cite is just
> referring to the temperature inside the venue. Consider:
>
> ---
> Pittsburgh Courier, July 26, 1930, p. 7, col. 1
> "Jule Soliloquizes: The Heat, Cabarets, 'Hen' Kennedy, The Frogs, What Good
> Are We, Orchard View"
> It was hot, no foolin'. [...] About the coolest spot in town Monday was
> Dearing's Rendezvous.
> ---
> Pittsburgh Courier, July 1, 1933, p. 7, col. 6
> "Carrigan at Temple, 4th"
> [H]is only other appearance being the evenin' to dawnin' dance the night of
> July 3d at the coolest outdoor spot in western Pennsylvania, Mapleview
> Park. [...] There will be plenty of cool stuff ... you know what we mean
> ... to quench your thirst.
> ---
> Pittsburgh Courier, June 9, 1934, p. II8, col. 6
> "Modern Cooling System To Give the Savoy An Alaskan Atmosphere: Polar-Like
> Breezes to Make Pittsburgh's Most Beautiful Ballroom the 'Coolest Spot In
> Town'"
> "The coolest spot in town" will be the beautiful Savoy Ballroom [...] when
> the installation of the new cooling system, which is already underway, is
> completed.
> ---
>
> --bgz
>
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 12:24 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 8:55 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> > 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> cool (OED, 8.b., 1933 [August])
> >>
> >> 1933 Pittsburgh Courier 1 July 9 (ProQuest)
> >>
> >> The Northside Elks ball is rated the coolest in the city.
> >
> >
> > Fascinating find, Fred. I took a look at the article on ProQuest, and I
> > believe the quote is actually "The Northside Elks hall is rated the
> coolest
> > in the city" ("hall," not "ball"). This is referring to the Northside
> Lodge
> > of Elks No. 124, a venue that was used for social gatherings -- the
> article
> > mentions plans for an all-night party on July 3rd and a holiday dance on
> > July 4th.
> >
> > So what does it mean for this venue to be "rated the coolest in the
> city"?
> > It's hard to say without any additional context. I'd note that OED3
> > currently distinguishes these two senses:
> >
> > 8a: attractively shrewd or clever; sophisticated, stylish, classy;
> > fashionable, up to date; sexually attractive (from 1918)
> > 8b: (as a general term of approval) admirable, excellent (from 1933)
> >
> > It's possible the Northside Elks hall is being described as stylish or
> > classy (8a), although the OED's examples for that sense are more about
> > people than places. If it's indeed an example of 8b, I'd find it more
> > compelling than what the OED currently has as the earliest cite for the
> > sense: "And whut make it so cool, he got money 'cumulated," from Zora
> Neale
> > Hurston's story "The Gilded Six-Bits." In the past, I've questioned
> whether
> > the examples of "what/whut make it so cool" in Hurston's writings should
> be
> > thought of as illustrating the modern sense of "cool" as a general term
> of
> > approbation or the older sense meaning "audacious" (OED sense 2d).
> >
> >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2008-February/078756.html
> >
> >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2008-September/084670.html
> >
> > The Pittsburgh Courier example obviously wouldn't work with an
> "audacious"
> > reading, but I'm still unsure what kind of "coolness" they could be
> talking
> > about. Given that the article is about social events in the summertime,
> > maybe they're just referring to the temperature inside the lodge!
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> >
>
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>


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