# Groovy. How old is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195 "2010-01-24T04:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/1 "2010-01-24T04:19:14Z")
I heard a song tonight called _Man, That’s Groovy_. I don’t remember the artist, but the DJ said it was a 1941 recording. I’ve always associated ‘groovy’ with the '60s – and there it is, a couple of decades earlier. When did the slang term ‘groovy’ enter the language? [Here’s a Jimmy Dorsey YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6j9gzILItM) from 1943. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/2 "2010-01-24T04:31:48Z")
Wikipedia corroborates what I thought I knew on the subject: [Groovy originated in the jazz culture of the 1930s, in which it referred to the groove of a piece of music](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groovy) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/3 "2010-01-24T04:35:12Z")
Groovy. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/4 "2010-01-24T04:38:21Z")
[A bit more](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=groovy&searchmode=none) > [@](#): > > 1937 in slang sense of “excellent,” from jazz slang phrase in the groove (1932) “performing well (without grandstanding).” As teen slang for “wonderful,” it dates from 1944; popularized 1960s, out of currency by 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/5 "2010-01-24T04:42:27Z")
That’s even groovier. I had no idea it was that old. BTW, Mary Healy, the woman in the video, is apparently still alive at the age of 91. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/6 "2010-01-24T04:56:22Z")
Here’s the OED’s list of sample quotations: > [@](#): > > **1937** _Amer. Speech_ XII. 46/2 _Groovey_, name applied to state of mind which is conducive to good playing.\*\* 1944\*\* _Sat. Even. Post_ 13 May 89/2 A boy or girl who is really ‘groovy’ is ‘skate wacky’ or a ‘skate bug’. **1946** [MEZZROW](http://dictionary.oed.com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/help/bib/oed2-m3.html#mezzrow) & [WOLFE](http://dictionary.oed.com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/help/bib/oed2-w3.html#wolfe) _Really Blues_ 52 When he was groovy..he’d begin to play the blues on a beat-up guitar. **1948** _Cosmopolitan_ Dec. 163/1 ‘I pitched a no-hit game last summer,’ said Georgie. ‘Hey, groovy,’ said Sally. **1951** W. MORUM _Gabriel_ II. vii. 225 The boys have a groovy number they want to put across. _Ibid._ viii. 243 It’s damned silly to say that. Just because I was extemporising Bach—feeling a bit groovy. **1958** _Spectator_ 11 July 67/2 That was a good record..cool and groovy. **1959** _Observer_ 1 Nov. 7/7 To-morrow I’ll tell him to go to hell, and what’s so groovy is, he will. **1968** _Listener_ 5 Sept. 307/1 There are a lot of guys going round with groovy hair-styles. No link, because you need a subscription to view the full OED. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/7 "2010-01-24T05:00:22Z")
So I’m thinking that possibly the origin of the association of the word “groove” with music came about because of the grooves in those funny black round things we used to spin around with a needle on them and music came out. IIRC they called them “records.” ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/8 "2010-01-24T09:23:34Z")
It actually goes back to the [middle ages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_Darkness). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/9 "2010-01-24T09:37:39Z")
This was a question on [QI](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI_%28G_series%29#Episode_5_.22Groovy.22_.28Christmas_Special.29) a few weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/10 "2010-01-24T10:11:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > This was a question on [QI](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI_%28G_series%29#Episode_5_.22Groovy.22_.28Christmas_Special.29) a few weeks ago. Ah, the one useful contribution I could make, cruelly snatched away from me! _shakes fist in impotent fury_ ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/11 "2010-01-24T10:24:10Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Ah, the one useful contribution I could make, cruelly snatched away from me! _shakes fist in impotent fury_ Chill out, man, no need to have a cow. **GuanoLad** ’s groovy, can you dig it ? And you’re groovy too. And that’s far out, man ! ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/12 "2010-01-24T18:27:25Z")
We’ve lost both “skate wacky” & “skate bug” to the shifting sands of modern slang? So sad. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/13 "2010-01-25T09:50:35Z")
“Cool” came back. And I’ll never give up “far out!” What about “Dig it?” Please, no “peachy keen” though. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/14 "2010-01-25T13:21:36Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > We’ve lost both “skate wacky” & “skate bug” to the shifting sands of modern slang? So sad. Have we already lost “sk8ter boi”, too? ---
**Author:** ![Buford\_was\_no\_angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Buford\_was\_no\_angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buford_was_no_angel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groovy-how-old-is-it/526195/15 "2010-01-26T17:11:34Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Have we already lost “sk8ter boi”, too? One can only hope.