![]() The New Yorker (June 19, 1943) ignored the more sensational aspects of the "zoot suit" controversy, and commented briefly on the etymology of the term. ![]() Does anyone happen to know more about the word "zoot" and this use of speech called "nonsense reduplication?"Įarly (1939–1943) cultural and etymological inquiries into 'zoot suit'Īmerican Notes & Queries, volume 3 (July 1943) has this interesting commentary on zoot suit : I am also curious about this "nonsense reduplication" and wonder whether anyone has taken the time to study it as an aspect of American English usage, whether it might be the predecessor to what is called "rap music" today, and what led to the development of it as well as whether or not it is a manner of speaking found in other parts of the world and in other languages. If the Ngram viewer is correct, it has been used in American English at least as far back as the 1850s. I even went to Google books Ngram Viewer just to try to see if the word existed before the era of the zoot suit. One source I visited (the Online Etymology Dictionary) speculated that it was "probably a nonsense reduplication of suit (compare reet pleat, drape shape from the same jargon)."įor some reason, and maybe because it really wasn't all that long ago that such a suit was popular, I found it odd that I didn't find a more definitive explanation. I am curious about the word "zoot" in "zoot suit." I have not done extensive research on the word, but the cursory search I conducted yielded so little and was so duplicative that I didn't bother digging too deeply on my own.
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