Brought to you by the letter J

Considering my passion for words it?s probably not going to be a surprise to anyone that I like word games, and of course my favorite is that old standby of word games, Scrabble. For those of you who also love this venerable, but still challenging and popular, game I thought it might be fun to do a column on words that start with those high point Scrabble tile letters, J, Q, X and Z, and maybe give players some ammo for their next game in the process.

Now, J really isn?t quite as limiting as the other three, but there are quite a few interesting words that start with the tenth letter of the alphabet. So this column is going to be devoted totally to the letter J, a little reminiscent of ?Sesame Street? I know, but cut me some slack here.

Here?s a J word that may get me in trouble but is pretty relevant right now, considering recent local headlines, and when you see it, you?ll no doubt understand without my even mentioning any names. The word I?m talking about is ?jailbait.?

The origin of this one is rather straightforward. Jailbait is, of course, derived from jail and bait, with bait meaning something used in luring or trapping. So in it?s most literal sense, jailbait means something or someone that can be used to put a person in jail. As most people know, it?s most common usage is to refer to a girl who is under the legal age of consent. It isn?t usually used to refer to underage males, but that may change if the national epidemic of females becoming involved with underage males continues. Sad but true.

Here?s another interesting word that begins with J, ?jingo,? which, with an -ism suffix, becomes ?jingoism,? which is actually the more common usage. This form is used to describe the attitude of someone who expresses extreme patriotism, as in: ?Joe claims if it isn?t made in America it?s no good, and that smacks of jingoism to me.? The original word was used mostly in an interjection, ?by jingo,? which was used as a strong oath.

The modern usage came, oddly enough, from a British music hall song in 1878 by G.W. Hunt which featured the refrain, ?We don?t want to fight, yet by Jingo! if we do,/We?ve got the ships, we?ve got the men, and got the money too.? The song became a rallying-cry among supporters of Lord Beaconsfield, who advocated military action against Russia in 1878. Jingo became a nickname for Beaconsfield?s supporters, and then from that came to represent anyone who was aggressively patriotic.

Here?s a J word that many of you may not have seen before, ?jitney,? which is used to describe a bus on a regular route. This one has a pretty circuitous origin. It seems the word was originally a slang term for a nickel, or 5 cents, in the early 20th century. The word eventually came to be used for a bus that carried passengers along a regular route, since the fare for these trips was 5 cents. The buses continued to be called jitneys even after the fares were increased.

Here?s a J word that is well-known these days, especially in musical circles, but is actually first showed up in the 1930s. It?s ?jiggy,? as in Will Smith?s rap song, ?Gettin? Jiggy Wit? It.? In 1930s slang the word meant ?crazy,? as in ?He?s gone completely jiggy.? But in the early 1990s the word took on an entirely new meaning, mostly due to Smith?s wildly popular rap tune. Now it?s used to denote anything that is excellent, enjoyable, stylish or exciting.

So that?s my column brought to you by the letter J. Hope you enjoyed it and picked up some words to use in your next game of Scrabble. Oh, and you have my permission to ?get jiggy with it.? As far as I?m concerned, it?s a fair word in Scrabble, at least if you?re playing the game with me.

Charlie Johnson is news editor for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].