[Ads-l] More on Antedating of "Hepped" (Adjective)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Actually, I see that last year some guy named Fred Shapiro posted a 12 Sept. 1897 citation for "hep."

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2026 07:14
To: American Dialect Society <ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
Subject: Antedating of "Hepped" (Adjective)

hepped, adjective (OED 1903)

1897 Enquirer (Cincinnati) 7 Nov. 23/3 (Newspapers.com)

Charlie Burns, the well-known lightweight of this city, takes the same McCoy - Moore fight and from it figures that McCoy hasn't a ghost of a chance with Colonel Hopkins's man.  "Why, Moore wasn't within pounds of himself when he fought McCoy," said Burns in THE ENQUIRER office the other evening. .... I don't think McCoy has a 10-to-1 chance against Creedon.  You can bet that Creedon is 'hepped' to everything McCoy knows.

NOTE:  I believe that this is now the earliest known citation for the "hep" / "hip" family of terms describing being "aware, in the know."  An interesting sidelight is the fact that "McCoy" here was Kid McCoy, who already had a place in etymological lore as the alleged (but false) etymon for the expression "the real McCoy."

Fred Shapiro

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