Entry · catalog no. 1092

alligator

/ /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tər/ /AL-uh-gay-ter

noun · Harlem · 1930s

✓ Verified

A swing-music fan or jitterbug; in the jive of the swing era, an enthusiast of hot dance music who crowded the bandstand (often a white devotee).

“The alligators packed the Savoy every time the band swung out.”

Origin & Attribution

Harlem swing and jive vocabulary of the 1930s, codified in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary (1938), where "alligator" is defined as a jitterbug and "jitterbug" as a swing fan. Musicians used it for the (frequently white) devotees who packed the floor to catch hot music. It survives in the farewell "See you later, alligator," a 1950s hit.

1930s

Harlem swing musicians' jive for a hot-music fan

1938

Defined in Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary

1950s

Survives in 'See you later, alligator'

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide

Harlem · 1930s

Spoken by

Swing-era Black musicians and dancers

$ALLIGAThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Fading

90 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

30/100

peak cultural energy

Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

1936

in the culture

Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.

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Atlanta, GA

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Memphis, TN

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Citations & Sources

■

Cab Calloway, "Hepster's Dictionary: Language of Jive" — reference · 1938

submitted

■

Bill Haley & His Comets, "See You Later, Alligator" — song · 1956

submitted

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