Glossary of jive talk

Updated on Jan 03, 2024

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Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip, was the distinctive slang that developed in Harlem, where jive or jazz was played, and was subsequently adopted more widely in US society, peaking in the 1940s. H. L. Mencken, in his The American Language, defined it as "an amalgam of Negro-slang from Harlem and the argots of drug addicts and the pettier sort of criminals, with occasional additions from the Broadway gossip columns and the high school campus".

This was documented in works such as Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary: Language of Jive (1939), which was the first dictionary published by a black person, and Dan Burley's Original Handbook of Harlem Jive, which was compiled and published in 1944 at the suggestion of Harlem poet Langston Hughes. Besides referring to the music scene, much of the argot related to drugs such as marijuana. For example, Mezz Mezzrow gave this sample:

SECOND CAT: Hey Mezzie, lay some of that hard-cuttin' mess on me. I'm short of a deuce of blips but I'll straighten you later. MEZZROW: Righteous, gizz, you're a poor boy but a good boy — now don't come up crummy. SECOND CAT: Never no crummy, chummy. I'm gonna lay a drape under the trey of knockers for Tenth Street and I'll be on the scene, wearin' the green.

Glossary

Alligator

A devotee of jazz or swing music. Perhaps alludes to sharp-dressing with alligator leather.

Chops

Noun. Refers to any musician's level of ability. Originates from the physical changes that occur in a brass player's mouth and lips. E.g., Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. Also a term used for a musician who had significantly improved his or her playing. E.g., "I got my chops up" or "Has he got the chops to play with this group?". Chops can also refer to general ability in any skill. E.g., "Yo', I found a lawyer who has the chops to get George Shearing a driver's license!"

Frail

Diminutive of "frail sister". Also used as a noun for any hepster woman.

G-man

Government man, especially one who arrests or harasses peaceful citizens.

Gage

Noun for marijuana. Particularly associated with Louis Armstrong.

Gate

Noun. Any man, usually used as a greeting. "Yo' gate, what's the word from the herd?".

Gatemouth

A horn player who has a large mouth or a mouth that is habitually open. Playing brass instruments often results in larger cheeks and a callus on the player's lip. The larger cheeks is the origin of the word "chops". After 1930, however, "Gatemouth" generally referred only to Louis Armstrong.

Hep

In the know. Later, hip.

Hep cat

Knowledgeable person. Later, hipster.

High

Happy. See "mellow"

Hoochie Coocher

Hot babe who dances laying down. "Minnie the Moocher was a red , hot HOOCHIE COOCHER." – Cab Calloway

Hoochie coochie

Erotic dance.

Jeff

Opposite of hep; unhip, uncool or opposed to hipness

Jelly roll

1) female genitalia, 2) act of coitus. 3) Jelly Roll Morton: a famous stride piano player.

Jitterbug

Swing dance. Same as the Lindy Hop, a dance created in the 1920s and 1930s. Danced to swing and Western Swing.

Jive

Cab Calloway defines this in the 1930s as "harlmese speech" meaning the style of slang. In basic terms jive means talk. It can also be an object or to mean kidding with someone. It is often confused with jibe which means "be in accordance with". If people say "This doesn't jive", the correct term would be to say, "This doesn't jibe" (now meaning it doesn't fit an accordance).

Jive talk

"Whaddya say, gate? Are you in the know, or are you a solid bringer-downer?" – Cab Calloway. "Are you Hep to the Jive" – Cab Calloway.

Light up

To light a stick of T or reefer.

Lid

A Prince Albert tobacco can filled to the lid. Roughly one ounce.

Man!

Commonly used as an interjection or for emphasis. Also in alternative to "boy" which was used by whites as a disparaging term used to hail African American adult males.

Mellow

Let's all get mellow. Words in the song "Light Up". The meaning is obscure. Probably means light-hearted, calm and happy.

Mighty Mezz

An expertly rolled reefer. Named after Milton Mezz Mezzrow, the saxophonist who played with Louis Armstrong. Mezzrow was close friends of Louis Armstrong. He was also a user of marijuana and a distributor strictly to other musicians that were his friends.

Mop

Noun for woman. Often a reference to another hepster's girlfriend.

Muggles

1930s and '40s slang for marijuana.

Mugglin'

I's a-muggin', you 's a-muggin', meaning getting high on reefer.

Ofay

Policeman or law enforcement, "the Man", possibly constructed from pig Latin.

Pot

Short name used for the mysterious potted plants that musicians always traveled with in 1930s and '40s.

Puff

to smoke weed.

Reefer

The marijuana plant, aka hemp, pot, ganja, or cannabis. Refers to the leaf of the plant or a cigarette rolled from the plant (JIVE, STICK OF TEA). See also: Reefer Madness, a 1936 anti-cannabis propaganda film

Reefer man

Some one who uses reefer.

Stick of tea

Joint, reefer, left-handed cigarette.

Stuff

1) Jive, Muggles, reefer. 2) Nickname for famous viper, jazz fiddler, "Stuff" Smith, famous viper and composer of viper songs such as If You're a Viper.

"T" or Tea

Marijuana.

Teapad

in Harlem in the 1930s and 40s, and after-hours club where pot was smoked and jazz music performed.

T-man (Tea-man)

Marijuana provider.

Vipers

refers to hep cats from the 1930s who inhaled. Examples include Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Louis Jordan . They frequented tea pads and smoked jive. The term vipers arose from the sssssst sound made by an inhaling pot-smoker or a snake.

Zoot suit

Named in the rhyming way of jive talk: "a Zoot Suit with a reat pleat, with a drape shape". With a generous cut but tight cuffs, this was popular with dancers of the swing era.

References

Glossary of jive talk Wikipedia

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