• copacetic •
Pronunciation: ko-pê-set-ik • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Harmonious, in sync; groovy, cool, going well.
Notes: Today's Good Word is another contribution to US English from the world of jazz (also the source of cool) as a term meaning "good, OK, in style". We like our spelling better than the alternative, copasetic, which you may see elsewhere. We may use the adverb copacetically even though dictionaries haven't discovered it yet. I would avoid all potential nouns from this word: both copaceticity and copaceticness upset even my spell-checker.
In Play: Copacetic implies relaxation, the absence of any tension, maybe even tranquility: "Everything is copacetic around the house when cool jazz is playing in the background." It is a cool word for "harmonious" in all its applications: "Yes, I would say that their filing for divorce would indicate that all is not copacetic in Bill and Jill's marriage."
Word History: If Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949), the popular African American tap dancer, did not invent this word, he was certainly responsible for popularizing it throughout the show business community over his half-century career. Logical origins include the Yiddish phrase kol b'tzedek "all with justice" and the Creole French word coupersètique "able to cope with things", which musicians may have picked up in New Orleans. Someone has even suggested the highly unlikely Chinook word copasenee, "everything is satisfactory". (Chinook was spoken in the area of Portland, Oregon.) Bottom line: Bojangles apparently took the origin of this word to the grave with him. (Everything is copacetic at alphaDictionary when Eric Berntson suggests a marvelously Good Word like today's.)
COPACETIC
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COPACETIC
• The Good Dr. Goodword
Copacetic · Copacetic · Copacetic
-gailrHa-HA! The real definition is "the word that will not die".
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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I heard this word tonight (well, technically it IS morning) in the 1934 movie King for a Day starring Bill Robinson on Turner Classic Movies. Kinda odd these days seeing African-Americans in a minstrel show, but the singing and dancing were good, and the jokes were truly bad, and worthy of The Alpha Agora.
Regards//Larry
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