Chapter 14

Page 95

how jay it’s getting around this joint anymore
Dull, unsophisticated, inferior. Beginning in the Midwest in the early 19th-century, “jay” was common slang for an empty-headed chatterbox, like a bluejay. A “jay” was a hick, a rube, or a downright dupe. A “jay town” was a fourth-rate or worthless place. More…