Bojangles was copacetic: OT

[Bryan Stover <bstover...>]

 From "THE ALT.USAGE.ENGLISH FAQ FILE" located here:

        http://www.ucle.org/aue/full_faq_with_int_links.shtml

        copacetic
        ---------

        This word, meaning "extremely satisfactory", was first recorded
        in 1919, and was originally heard chiefly among U.S. black jazz
        musicians.  The tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949)
        popularized the word, and claimed to have coined it when he was a
        shoeshine boy in Richmond; but a number of Southerners testified
        that they had heard the word used by parents or grandparents in the
        late 19th century.  Suggested origins include:  a supposed Italian
        word _copacetti_; a Creole French word _coupersetique_ meaning "that
        can be coped with"; and the Hebrew phrase _kol besedeq_ "all with
        justice".   RHUD2 says that all these theories "lack supporting
        evidence".

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