Entry · catalog no. 3341

off-time jive

/ /ˌɔf taɪm ˈdʒaɪv/ /AWF-tym-JYVE

phrase · Harlem / nationwide · 1930s

✓ Verified

A poor excuse, or the wrong thing said at the wrong moment — talk that's out of step, off the beat.

“Don't come in here with that off-time jive; either you got my money or you don't.”

Origin & Attribution

Swing-era Harlem slang, from jive (talk) that lands off-time, out of rhythm. Recorded in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary.

1938

Defined in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary as a sorry excuse, saying the wrong thing

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide / diaspora

Harlem / nationwide · 1930s

Spoken by

Swing-era Harlem

$OFFTIMThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Dormant

88 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

25/100

peak cultural energy

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

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

1938

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.

Hear it spoken

By region — how it actually sounds

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Atlanta, GA

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Memphis, TN

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Citations & Sources

■

Cab Calloway, Hepster's Dictionary — reference · 1938

published