[Ads-l] Major Antedating of "Cool" (General Term of Approval)

[Shapiro, Fred]

cool (OED, 8.b..1933)

1866 Union (Brooklyn, New York) 6 Dec. 1/1 (Newspapers.com)  At the breaking out of the war a colored man named Benjamin Tines was the happy husband of a white wife ... Yesterday, however, poor Benjamin's seclusion was ruthlessly interrupted by the appearance of Officer Bell ... who, armed with a warrant, arrested him on a charge of abandoning his lawful wife Margaret and refusing to give her support.  On this charge he was arraigned before Justice Walter, but no complainant appearing, he was discharged.  On leaving the Court-room Benjamin gave expression to his pent-up feelings in this wise: "Well, dat's cool; de woman dat married Black Jack the Sweep can't hab my money, no how; no sah!"

Fred Shapiro

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org