[Ads-l] Antedating of "Ragged" (Of ragtime)

[Shapiro, Fred]

ragged, adj5 (of ragtime) (OED 1917)

1900 Meriden (Conn.) Daily Journal 15 Aug. 6/2 (Newspapers.com)  RAGGED-TIME MUSIC. ... It is simpler, and just as pleasurable to suppose that some one heard a pianist tearing the time to tatters, and used rag-time as the equivalent of "ragged-time."

1902 Brooklyn Times 31 Mar. 3/2 (Newspapers.com)  Very Ragged Music Over a Saloon on Sunda Night Annoys Residents. ... The windows of the club rooms are always wide open, and the strains of rag-time music can be heard two and three blocks away.

Fred Shapiro

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