"copacetic"
(Word Origins)This word, meaning "extremely satisfactory", was first recorded in 1919, and was originally heard chiefly among U.S. black jazz musicians. The tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949) popularized the word, and claimed to have coined it when he was a shoeshine boy in Richmond; but a number of Southerners testified that they had heard the word used by parents or grandparents in the late 19th century. Suggested origins include: a supposed Italian word _copacetti_; a Creole French word _coupersetique_ meaning "that can be coped with"; and the Hebrew phrase _kol besedeq_ "all with justice". RHUD2 says that all these theories "lack supporting evidence".
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