Careful, I'm on my Andy Rooney with the Jitterbug!
Strange things pass through my mind, I tell you.

Today's thought: What is the etymology of the word "Jitterbug"?

I partially think this more because I was thinking about the word "etymology". It's one of my favorite words you know. For some reason I learned to spell that word at an early age (like first grade) but never really knew what it meant until like eighth grade. So imagine this young little boy going around saying "etymology" a lot because it was such a cool sounding word and that was me. "etymology" (heh heh).

So... most of us know the origin of the term "Lindy Hop". (Charles Lindbergh flies or "hops" across the ocean). But why Jitterbug? Did that word originally mean something? Where did it come from? Did someone just one day blurt out the word "JITTERBUG!!!!!!" (if so, probably scared the bejeeezus out of the person he or she was dancing with at the time).

A quick look in the dictionary:

Main Entry: jit * ter * bug
Function:noun
1: a jazz variation of the two-step in which couples swing, balance, and twirl in standardized patterns and often with vigorous acrobatics
2: one who dances the jitterbug

(Balance is a part of it? Oh man.. so what have I been dancing all this time?)

So that definition doesn't help with the etymology much.

Let's check out the verb definition:

Main Entry: jitterbug
Function:intransitive verb
1: to dance the jitterbug
2: to move around or back and forth with quick often jerky movements especially to confuse or disconcert an opponent in sports

(I swear as I was reading that definition I kept thinking to myself "Dang! I'm doing this dance all wrong!!!". Imagine my relief when I read "an opponent in sports" instead of "your dance partner").

(although confusion between "opponent" and "dance partner" sure would explain a lot now wouldn't it?)

Hmm..so a possible etymological definition there. Let's go on to "Ask Jeeves": "What is the origin of the word jitterbug?"

Whoop !! Here is an answer

"The word Jitterbug came from a radio announcer covering the 1936 or '37 Harvest Moon Ball. It was on Movietone news and he said, referring to the Lindy dancers, "They look like Jitterbugs." And so it caught on."

Hmmm...That's kind of like saying the origin of the word etymology is that one day someone said "That looks like an etymology."

Let's look at the next "Ask Jeeves" link:

"The word Jitterbug came from a radio announcer covering the 1936 or '37 Harvest Moon Ball. It was on Movietone news and he said, referring to the Lindy dancers, "They look like Jitterbugs." And so it caught on."



(methinks that people are just copying and pasting each other's websites and propagating info that way... hmm... that could be kind of fun)

Wouldn't it be funny if I came up with an origin for a word and then everyone cut and pasted it to their own sites?

"The term 'stud-muffin' originated when one day a baker was baking a dozen muffins and accidentally dropped a earring stud into the muffin. A good-looking man came in to pick up his muffins and that's when the baker found his crucial error and yelled out after the good-looking man 'HEY!! STUD-MUFFIN'! At that time there were a lot of women in the bakery who had witnessed this. The term soon came into everyday language and eventually 'stud-muffin' became widespread to mean good-looking man"

(oops, got off-topic again)

It looks like some sites have the term "jitterbug" originating as a derogatory term used to describe the shakes associated with alcoholics. And the detractors of swing dancing started calling the young people doing the dance "jitterbugs". (Now that's an interesting possibility, and that definitely could explain a lot as well!).

Unfortunately, I haven't found any source to confirm "jitterbug" meaning the shakes of alcoholism except on dance-related pages... so the source of these definitions may be in question.



Well, when all else fails, go back to what Sesame Street and Electric Company taught you. And that is to break up compound words into their separate words!

In this case, the lesson is that "jitterbug" is a compound word made of the words "jitter" and "bug". Let's look at those two words shall we? )

Main Entry: jit * ter
Function: noun
1: irregular random movement
2: a sense of panic or extreme nervousness

Main Entry: bug
Function: noun
1 a: an insect or other creeping or crawling invertebrate b: any of several insects commonly considered obnoxious as (1)

Therefore, we can conclude that the word "jitterbug" had its origins in dancers that resembled panicked, nervous bugs that were commonly considered obnoxious.

Furthermore, using our sports and alcohol related definitions, we could say that these "jitterbugs" probably danced with irregular random movement - probably because of the alcohol. And we could go further and say that because of that they inadvertently would move around or back and forth with quick often jerky movements that would confuse or disconcert.

Hmmm...

*looks at own dance steps in the mirror*


WORKS FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!

You're too cooky Ben.  But that's why we  love you!

lol i love this blog
you are so original ^_^
i randomly decided i wanted to know where the term stud muffin came from, and found you ^_^