Entry · catalog no. 1093

scrap iron

/ /ˈskræp ˌaɪ.ərn/ /SKRAP-eye-urn

noun · Harlem · 1940s

✓ Verified

Cheap, harsh liquor; low-grade bootleg or bar whiskey rough enough to feel like it was distilled from junk metal.

“Wasn't nothing behind that bar but scrap iron and regret.”

Origin & Attribution

Harlem slang of the early 1940s, recorded in Zora Neale Hurston's glossary to "Story in Harlem Slang" (1942), where "scrap-iron" is defined plainly as cheap liquor. The image is of drink rough enough to corrode you.

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

$SCRAPIThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Fading

84 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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Citations & Sources

■

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

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