Entry · catalog no. 3369
dusty butt
/ /ˈdʌsti bʌt/ /DUS-tee-but
noun · Harlem / nationwide · 1940s
✓ Verified
1.
A cheap or low-rank woman, particularly a low-paid prostitute; a hard put-down out of Harlem slang.
“In Hurston's story a man is mocked for keeping company with a dusty butt.”
Origin & Attribution
Harlem slang of the 1930s and 40s, set down by Zora Neale Hurston in her Glossary of Harlem Slang, where she recorded the everyday speech she gathered as a trained anthropologist. A dismissive term aimed at women at the bottom of the era's social order.
1942
Recorded in Zora Neale Hurston's Glossary of Harlem Slang
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
Harlem / nationwide · 1940s
Spoken by
1940s Harlem
$DUSTYBThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Dormant84 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
18/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1942
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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@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
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Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a sourceZora Neale Hurston, Glossary of Harlem Slang — reference · 1942
published
See also