[Ads-l] Replacement Antedating of "Good Hair"

[Geoffrey Nathan]

I’m still not sure that this is the sense that is used in the phrase “good hair day“

I think that means something like ‘my hair is behaving properly today.’

Geoff 

Geoffrey Nathan
Geoffnathan at wayne.edu

> On May 12, 2026, at 9:12 AM, Shapiro, Fred <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> 
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Replacement Antedating of "Good Hair"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Excellent point, Amy.  Let's forget about the 1849 citation.  Here's a bett=
> er antedating of "good hair":
> 
> good hair (OED 1931)  1884 New York Globe 26 Apr. 1 (GenealogyBank)  Rev Dr=
> Grimke preached a transporting sermon at the Fifteenth Street Church last =
> Sunday ... He said that too much deference was paid to the external appeara=
> nce and too little to character.  At Charleston, where he once lived, the p=
> rerequisite to admission into society was a light color and good hair.
> 
> Fred Shapiro
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Amy We=
> st <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Sent: Monday, May 11, 2026 3:38 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Bad Hair" and "Good Haiir"
> 
>> On 5/9/26 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>> Date:    Fri, 8 May 2026 10:16:40 +0000
>> From:    "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject: Antedating of "Bad Hair" and "Good Haiir"
>> 
>> bad hair (OED 1913)  1888 Washington (D.C.) Bee 17 Nov. 1 (GenealogyBank)=
>  Colored people are generayl [sic] in the habit of valuing hair in proport=
> ion as it approzimates [sic] the hair of white people.  Their own hair is a=
> lways bad hair, but if it resembles the hair of white people it is good hai=
> r. ... The sooner the Negro race learns to respect themselves, their color,=
> their hair, their lips, their heels, their noses and their all, the better=
> for their future.
>> 
>> good hair (OED 1931)  1849 North Star (Rochester, New York) 19 Jan. 3 / 4=
> (GenealogyBank)  THIRTY DOLLAR REWARD will be paid for satisfactory inform=
> ation about my negro man HENRY FOSTER ... He is either drowned or has met w=
> ith some accident, or been kidnapped ... He is of a Light Black or Griffe c=
> olor, of a middle size, rather short and well made, with a bushy or full he=
> ad of good hair.  1888 [see citation above for "bad hair]
>> 
>> Fred Shapiro
> 
> Yeah, I dunno Fred. I don't think the ad is using "good hair" the same
> way: Note the use of "bushy" preceding that "good hair". Yep, I've known
> white folks with bushy hair.
> 
> ---Amy West
> 
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