Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-20

THE origin OF the word "iitney" stunped
i the photographer of the Literary Digest
He hesitated as follows:
"Jitney' is said to be slang for "a nickel"
1t is used to designate type of motor
vehicle that carries passengers for cents.
The origin of the term is uncertain; 1t may
have been derived from personal name.
Prof Brander Matthews perhaps, or some
other learned specialist in words, will help
him solve the problem before the next issue
of the dictionary.
In the meantime, sing to the tune Of "The
Campbells'': The jitneys are coming,
hurrah, hurrah! The jit- The JItneys are
coming, coming, come. Even as the lights
spring forth one by one on a vast landscape
at dusk, so one by one the cities and towns
of West and East flash into fame with news
of the jitney's arrival-Philadelphia last but
not least Nor to be truthful, last. Over
night the jitney map accumulates more
bright spots.
An idea has broken loose, and instead OF
following the traditional direction 1t Is talk
ing its way eastward Into the epic of civ
ilzation 1t has projected the jitney. little
while ago few of us here on the Atlantic
edge of the continent had ever heard of
jitney, except perhaps as we had known 1t
as Western argot for a nickel, five cents
All of a sudden the papers were glutted
with the word. We thought at first glance
that it signifed some esoteric philosophy of
the Himalayan foothills, or perhaps some
equally esoteric joke. Then woke up to
the fact that the jitney was something else
something that might get into politics.
something that might Jolt the civic COM
placency of great cities, something with a
destiny. Anything is important If 1t stands
a chance of being ruled on by the United
States Supreme Court.
Mental By-products
Pioneers, o Pioneers, o Eastward Pioneers!
The discovery they are bringing with them
has led to an outburst of poetry all over this
broad land. For example, this couplet by
Baltlmorean:
Don't cry, little Ford, don't cry
You'll be jtney by and by
To go with the new word, the new use
of the old word, the proper name whitney"
seems to be the favorite and almost the
only successful rhyme:
A man by the name of Whitney
Rode downtown In a jltney.
He left at nine and thought himself late,
But he reached his store at half-past eight.
Sometimes the attempted rhymes are afro
cious, but If Browning could correlate
"where gloss is" with 'proboscis'' and ''who
is she" with 'vichy," why carp at the hard
worked versihers who founder with "jitney"
and "hit knee?
One of the early venturers lodged the
rhyming issue, and displayed few weeks ago
a MOTTO be-wondered- mixture of igno-
rance and knowledge OF his subject He
confessed, more or less;
I've read about the Jltney car
In all the Western papers;
I've seen it mentioned near and far
A-cuttng traction capers.
But what 1t is and whence It came
And whittier it is going,
And where 1t got its curious name,
have no means of knowing.
It's a car sure enough but curious name?
oh, no, not at all, not when you consider
such outlandish vehicular names as jim
rikIsha, sloven, whisky. BOBBY, sulky,
growler and hobby-horse.
Russ, Arab or Gambler?
The origin of 'jltney"? Somebody else
besides the photographer OF the Literary
Digest has made a guess. He suggests. nay,
asserts, that it is a corruption of a Russian
word for a coin having approximately the
value of Ave cents. But here's another
effort: The term is said to have originated
with the gamblers OF the Southwest, and is
a contraction OF two Mexican words mean
ing lowest value as until recently the nickel
or fve-cent piece, designated 'Jitney,'
was the smallest change in circulation In
that section" And stiI another: The
word comes from the slang of the street
Arab, who has a name for every coin.
meg is cent, jitl or 'jitney' Is nickel
a 'dimmo' is dime. and cute is quar-
ter"
The word, with the progress OF eiviliza-
tion, II you viii have 1t so, has now become
firmly fixed in the American language.
State Senator Price. Of Kansas, has risen to
call Mr.. William Allen White a "jitney