jive talking
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Puzzle #81 · August 21, 2025
In 1938 jazz musician Cab Calloway published a ‘Hepster's Dictionary’ defining jive as ‘Harlemese speech’. The OED cites concurrent usage of jive as deceptive speech (Don't jive me), a type of music (jazz), or dancing to jazz music.
Jive Talk had a few cultural moments in the late 70's and early 80's. The first was when the Bee Gees recorded Jive Talkin‘ as part of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977.
The second was In the 1980 movie, Airplane, Barbara Billingsley, who was pretty recognized as the whitest woman in America after her role as June Cleaver, speaks jive in this hilarious scene.
Jive Talk had a few cultural moments in the late 70's and early 80's. The first was when the Bee Gees recorded Jive Talkin‘ as part of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977.
The second was In the 1980 movie, Airplane, Barbara Billingsley, who was pretty recognized as the whitest woman in America after her role as June Cleaver, speaks jive in this hilarious scene.
Puzzle Appearances
The expression jive talking has appeared in 1 puzzle:
- Puzzle #81 on August 21, 2025
Rate of Appearance in English Language Print
Google's Ngram project shows how often a pair of words has appeared in print every year since the 1800's.
Data from Google Books Ngram Viewer. Licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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