Glossary of jive talk  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Jive talk was the distinctive slang which developed in Harlem where jive or jazz was played and was subsequently adopted more widely in US society, peaking in the 1940s. This is also known as the argot of jazz; jazz jargon; vernacular of the jazz world; slang of jazz; parlance of hip; and Harlem jive.

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.

Frail

Diminutive of "frail sister" which is a euphemism for prostitute. Sometimes refers to babes who hang around musicians or tea pads.

G-man

Government man. Especially ones who arrest or harass peaceful citizens.

Gate or gatemouth

Associated with gator or alligator; also a pun on swing-gate. A musician or one whose mouth is habitually open.

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.

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

The stuff vipers smoked they called "jive" as in "Here Come the Man with the Jive", Likely the smokeable flowers and leaves of the female cannabis plant.

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.

Mellow

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

Mighty Mezz

expertly rolled reefer. Named after Milton Mezz Mezzrow a saxophonist who played with viper, Louis Armstrong, and was a famous Harlem reefer distributor.

Muggles

1930s and '40s slang for marijuana.

Mugglin'

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

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.

Tea pad

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. And they liked it so much they incorporated it into their life style and sang about it. The singers and songwriters were the best of the time, think: Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holliday, Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Louie Jordan . They frequented tea pads and smoked jive. Vipers is onomatopoeic from sssssst — the sound made by an inhaling pot-smoker or a snake.

See also

African American Vernacular English