Jimmies: Racist Etymology?

[Zeke_R]

Hi all.

I'm trying to locate the correct etymology for the word jimmies (or a single jimmy), a term for the sprinkles you put on your ice cream if you live in New England. I was using it the other day, and a friend insisted that it was racist.

Here is what I've been able to find so far:
http://www.justborn.com/just-for-fun/fun-facts
http://www.justborn.com/get-to-know-us/our-history
http://www.brighams.com/ice_cream/facts.asp
http://www.word-detective.com/030299.html#jimmies
http://esotericappeal.typepad.com/my...-racist-s.html
http://jeanharper.org/?p=78

and the most reliable looking source,

http://books.google.com/books?id=cp0...sult#PPA160,M1 (page 160)

However, the pages that contain the reference in that final link are "omitted from this book preview."

I realize this looks like a fairly good case against the term being racist, but does anyone have a solid, printed source that can confirm? Most of the Just Born stuff looks like company propaganda rather than reliable fact, and the author of www.etymonline.com, when asked, was unwilling to base any final word on internet sources.

[dbuzman]

What did your friend offer as proof it was racist? Your friend said it was, it's on him/her to prove it.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

I've heard the term jimmies before, but I don't recall if they are all chocolate--i.e. dark--or if the term includes the multicolored ones. If the former, it's not an untenable theory that there was originally some racist allusion there. "Jim Crow" perhaps? The nickname Jim does seem to be markedly unpopular among African Americans, but then so do a lot of other ones as well. I can't recall the the last time I met or heard of an African American male who went by Bob or Tom or Jack, or particularly Jim.

[Exapno Mapcase]

I'd say your references make a better case against jimmies having a non-racist origin than 99% of the word questions asked around here have cases made for or against. They even specifically look at the Jim Crow link and say there's no evidence.

You never get that ultimate "Well, I coined the word jimmies in 1892 and I confirm that it had no racial connotations" cite. Make your friend read your cites and then smack him if he still makes the claim.

[Loach]

Originally Posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus

I've heard the term jimmies before, but I don't recall if they are all chocolate--i.e. dark--or if the term includes the multicolored ones. If the former, it's not an untenable theory that there was originally some racist allusion there. "Jim Crow" perhaps? The nickname Jim does seem to be markedly unpopular among African Americans, but then so do a lot of other ones as well. I can't recall the the last time I met or heard of an African American male who went by Bob or Tom or Jack, or particularly Jim.

In my experience if you ask for jimmies or sprinkles the default type is the multicolored type. If you want chocolate jimmies you have to say "chocolate jimmies". I hate the word jimmie. I always say sprinkles. Not because it's racist, it is just too tinny.

ETA: Have you thought to ask snopes to look into it?

[seosamh]

There's no problem with the word in the UK as we never use it. The technical term for those things is "hundreds and thousands".

[Harmonious Discord]

Who is going to mistake Jimmies as putting a person of a certain race on a doughnut?

[MrDibble]

Originally Posted by seosamh

The technical term for those things is "hundreds and thousands".

No, the technical term is nonpareils.

Anyway, why don't you buy the explanation by the people in your first link, who actually owned the trademark, Zeke. If they say "employee", I'm willing to believe it.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Originally Posted by MrDibble

No, the technical term is nonpareils.

What, it's French, so it must be the technical term?

[SharkB8]

I'd never heard the term "jimmies" until moving to New England. I was in Minnesota before coming here. I have only heard jimmies refer to chocolate sprinkles. When I first heard the term, I'm all like, "Wha?" They then explained to me that "jimmies" is kind of racist, but the term is pervasive enough that it probably will not go away. I did ask why and I can't remember the story, but for some reason, something about a black butler-type comes to mind. I can try to hunt down the friend to get the legendary explanation behind the term.

I also thought nonpareils referred to anything that is small and numerous. Like even those flat, flower-shaped ones, to the round balls MrDibble mentioned. Also, it's the name of a certain size of capers. Jimmies, as far as I know, are specifically chocolate, oblong sprinkles.

[butler1850]

I'd go with the Brighams link. If they don't know the real origin, nobody does. They indicate they are named after the inventor at the candy company that developed the product.

[Fear the Turtle]

How about "Jimmy Legs"? Anyone know the etymology of that, or if it is related? Certainly Seinfeld didn't invent the term, or did they?

[An Arky]

Male crabs are called jimmies, too, and I don't think there's anything remotely race-related to it.

Regardless, it's just another one of those incomprehensible manglings of the English language, used nowhere else but there, in which New Englanders seem to specialize.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by MrDibble

No, the technical term is nonpareils.

Nonpareils and sprinkles/jimmies aren't the same thing. Nonpareils are ball-shaped and sprinkles are stick-shaped. They don't taste the same, either.

[rowrrbazzle]

FWIW, here's the entry from OED Online. I've included only the earliest print cite, but as you see, it's from 1949, not 1947.

DRAFT ADDITIONS JANUARY 2005

Jimmy, n.2

* U.S. regional (chiefly north-east.). Also with lower-case initial. In pl. Tiny confections, typically rod or pellet-shaped, served on ice cream or other desserts; = SPRINKLE n.1 Cf. hundreds and thousands at HUNDRED n. and adj. 7.

1949 Nashua (New Hampsh.) Tel. 22 Apr. 18 (advt.) Cones with Jimmies 10c-15c.

[Mike Fun]

Life long New Englander here. I've always heard chocolate sprinkles called Jimmies, but it wan't until the last couple of years that I've heard the claims that it was racist. Nobody who says this has been able to explain why this is racist, though.

Loach said: "I hate the word jimmie. I always say sprinkles. Not because it's racist, it is just too tinny."

I couldn't agree more. It's not woody in the least.

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by seosamh

The technical term for those things is "hundreds and thousands".

Where I grew up (in New Zealand, for those of you who still don't know who I am) the chocolate sprinkles were called "chocolate hail" and the coloured dots are "hundreds and thousands." I believe these were names chosen by specific brands, that then fell into generic usage.

[Enola Straight]

Born and raised in Philly...called Jimmies there, too.

No racist connotations as long as I remember.

Need not be the chocolate variety, but any candied sprinkles: this, however, does NOT include other sprinkled-on confections, such as walnut crumbs, chocolate chips, Sno-Caps, or M&Ms.

[Zeke_R]

This site:

http://www.justborn.com/get-to-know-us/photo-gallery

has a picture of their Jimmies claiming they are (TM) circa 1930
http://www.justborn.com/resource/cor...3eb209d5a4.jpg

which would seem to predate the 1949 first printing. Circa is kind of hazy, though; I'll see if I can find that trademark recorded somewhere.

[Crazyhorse]

Poet and etymologist John Ciardi had this to say in a 1986 edition of NPR's On Words. He said that the term predated both the justborn and brighams claims of trademarks, and that it was in wide use as early as 1900 to 1920. But, alas, he too was out of ideas as to its actual origins. No mention of racism was made in any case.

[samclem]

Originally Posted by Crazyhorse

Poet and etymologist John Ciardi had this to say in a 1986 edition of NPR's On Words. He said that the term predated both the justborn and brighams claims of trademarks, and that it was in wide use as early as 1900 to 1920. But, alas, he too was out of ideas as to its actual origins. No mention of racism was made in any case.

John Ciardi was a heckuva writer, but he was rather short on scholarship when it came time to provide cites/sources. I'll almost guarantee you that he had no basis for the claim that that term "Jimmies" for chocolate sprinkles was in use in the 1900-1920 period. It just plain wasn't.

[Crazyhorse]

Originally Posted by samclem

John Ciardi was a heckuva writer, but he was rather short on scholarship when it came time to provide cites/sources. I'll almost guarantee you that he had no basis for the claim that that term "Jimmies" for chocolate sprinkles was in use in the 1900-1920 period. It just plain wasn't.

His stated basis for the claim was that he was born in 1916 and "From the time I was able to run to the local ice cream store clutching my first nickel, which must have been around 1922, no ice cream cone was worth having unless it was liberally sprinkled with jimmies."

So he is saying at 6 years old he remembers the term being in wide use. The difference between 6 and, say 15 or so, is pretty huge when it comes to childhood memories. But I don't discount the possibility his memory was incorrect.

[samclem]

Originally Posted by Zeke_R

This site:

http://www.justborn.com/get-to-know-us/photo-gallery

has a picture of their Jimmies claiming they are (TM) circa 1930
http://www.justborn.com/resource/cor...3eb209d5a4.jpg

which would seem to predate the 1949 first printing. Circa is kind of hazy, though; I'll see if I can find that trademark recorded somewhere.

You won't. If you read that story, it really doesn't claim a trademark, and certainly not circa 1920. At least, I didn't see that claim.

As to their pictures, notice that the can marked "Jimmies" has a zipcode. That kinda dates that one.

[MrDibble]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

Nonpareils and sprinkles/jimmies aren't the same thing.

But nonpareils and hundreds-and-thousands are. One of these will be found in Larousse and Escoffier, one of these, not. An English regionalism =/= technical term.