Definition of hep

[Guest guest]

I used to think that " hep " meant someone who understood something or was

" in the know " . However, at

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=addict & searchmode=none

there's an entirely different view that I think is funny! In reference

to what I just write, I'm " hep " regarding both ways of defining this

word! :-)

 

hep (1)

" aware, up-to-date, " first recorded 1908 in " Saturday Evening Post, " but

said to be underworld slang, of unknown origin. Variously said to have

been the name of " a fabulous detective who operated in Cincinnati " or a

saloonkeeper in Chicago who " never quite understood what was going on

.... (but) thought he did. " Taken up by jazz musicians by 1915; hepcat

" addict of swing music " is from 1938.

 

Michael