Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang

Posted by Gary Martin on May 04, 2009 at 10:18

In Reply to: Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang posted by Victoria S Dennis on May 01, 2009 at 15:43:

: : : Zora Neale Hurston's - Glossary of Harlem Slang
: : : Slang terms circa 1930's

: : : aalbc.com/ authors/harlemslang.htm

: : : I was looking for a definition of "butt-sprung" and found it at this site.

: : Thank God for small lists. In going from top to bottom I found "Jig" and "Zigaboo." During summers in the 1940s and '50s, near my home in Tinytown, I worked alongside black migrant laborers from Jamaica and the Bahamas harvesting onions. The local white townspeople called the black workers "jigaboos," a term I had not heard previously and have not heard since. I don't know if the workers were aware of the term. I had plenty of conversations with ny co-workers, but that never came up.
: : SS

: I'm sorry to report that "jigaboo" is still alive and kicking among the white British working classes, right up there with "nig-nog" and "jungle bunny", though possibly only among the middle-aged and upwards; it might strike the younger generation as a bit passé. (VSD)

I grew up in the 1950s/60s in Smethwick in the English West Midlands; which was then a profoundly and openly racist town. It is still infamous for the 'if you want a [word removed in order to comply with Google's Publisher Policy] neighbour, vote Labour' slogan which cost the Labour party its previously safe seat in the 1964 election. Language that would now result in a prison sentence was rife there then. Jigaboo is a new one to me but there was a wide vocabulary of other derogatory terms. I'm glad to report that things have changed in Smethwick and that that sort of language is much reduced there, in private as well as in public.

• Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang Joe 04/May/09
  • Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang ESC 04/May/09
    • Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang Brian from Shawnee 05/May/09
      • Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang ESC 12/May/09