Entry · catalog no. 1094

July jam

/ /dʒʊˈlaɪ dʒæm/ /juh-LY jam

noun · Harlem · 1940s

✓ Verified

Something extremely hot — literally, or by extension intense or fierce; the heat of high summer distilled into a phrase.

“That kitchen in August? July jam, all day.”

Origin & Attribution

Harlem slang recorded in Zora Neale Hurston's glossary to "Story in Harlem Slang" (1942), defined as "something very hot" — a figure drawn from the swelter of a New York July.

1942

Recorded in Hurston's 'Story in Harlem Slang' glossary

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide

Harlem · 1940s

Spoken by

Harlem speakers, 1940s

$JULYJAThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Fading

84 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

10/100

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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Citations & Sources

■

Zora Neale Hurston, "Story in Harlem Slang" (glossary) — short story · 1942

submitted

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