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Most prominent in recent decades has been the hypothesis that copacetic is borrowed from Israeli Hebrew hakol beseder "all is in order" (in a transliteration from pointed spelling ha-kōl bĕ-sēdher), a calque on expressions in European languages (German "alles in Ordnung," Polish "wszystko w porządku," Russian "vsë v porjadke"). The same absence of support vitiates other suggested sources, as Chinook Jargon copasenee (not actually attested in Chinook Jargon) and the putative Italian word copasetti produced by the novelist John O'Hara in a letter of December, 1934 ( Selected Letters of John O'Hara, New York, 1978, p. He cites a report by a correspondent from Milwaukee that the word comes from Louisiana French coupe-sètique the correspondent even proffers its use in a couplet from "a charming old Acadian poem." Unfortunately, outside of this claim, such a word is not known to exist in any variety of French. Funke's American Speech article apparently inaugurates the tradition of searching outside English for the origin of copacetic. 230-31, citing an earlier column by Funke and Frank Vizetelly in The Literary Digest, vol. It was used by the tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1877-1949) in radio broadcasts during the 1930's Robinson claimed to have coined the word in an exchange of letters with the lexicographer Charles Earle Funke (see Funke's article "Bill Robinson's 'Copesetic'," American Speech, vol. This attestation begins a long association of the word with African American speech.
KEEP IT COPACETIC PASSWORD
Copasetic next appears in 1920, in the lyrics of a song, "At the New Jump Steady Ball," by the African American songwriters Tom Delaney (1889-1963) and Sidney Easton (1886-1971): "Copasetic was the password for all, At the new jump steady ball " a performance of the song was the first issued recording by the singer Ethel Waters, in March, 1921 (see post and link to the song by Stephen Goranson at the website Language Log, March 3, 2017). While coralapus passes into oblivion after the novel, it is only the beginning for copasetic-though it is far from certain that Bacheller coined the word. It was the word 'copasetic.' The best society of Salem Hill understood perfectly that it signaled an unusual depth of meaning" (pp. Lukins …There was one other word in her lexicon which was in the nature of a jewel to be used only on special occasions. Bacheller emphasizes that this word and coralapus are her peculiar property: "For a long time the word 'coralapus' had been a prized possession of Mrs. Lukins, noted for her idiosyncratic speech. In the book the word is used twice by a character named Mrs.
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The first written occurrence of the word thus far detected (as copasetic) is in A Man for the Ages (New York, 1919), a novel about the young Abraham Lincoln in rural Illinois by the journalist and fiction writer Irving Bacheller (1859-1950), born in northern New York state. Note: Copacetic (with many variant spellings) is probably better known for competing theories of its origin than for any record of unconscious everyday use in American English. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'copacetic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2021 Since Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt announced their breakup in 2016, things haven't exactly been copacetic between the former spouses. southeast that have long lived a copacetic existence with water, rising sea levels are creating more flooding from high-tides. Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 4 June 2021 Meanwhile, in areas of the U.S. 2021 Wilson is back practicing with the Seahawks and acting like everything is copacetic.ī, 12 June 2021 Brad Wood, the copacetic producer who helmed Guyville and Whip-Smart, is back for the first time since the Nineties, and the album’s sound often recalls the tart melodies, droll, searching prettiness, and rich genre impressionism of those albums. 2021 While most of the focus has been about getting Republicans on board, not everything is copacetic among Democrats.
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2021 Ordway, who retired Thursday as a full-time host at WEEI, conjured a brilliant formula that was perfectly copacetic with the cynical nature of the Boston sports fan.ī, 28 Aug. 2021 My days, like everyone else’s in 2021, can quickly swing from perfectly copacetic calm to something on the edge of calamity. Recent Examples on the Web The most likely path for the Heat will be to keep the roster copacetic until later in the season, when there will be enough space under the tax for maneuverability.