jamoke

English

Alternative forms

jamoch, jamocha, jamoka, jomoke

Etymology

Appeared at the end of the 19th century as a term for coffee, a blend of java +‎ mocha.

By the 1920s or 1940s^[1] jamoke was also attested in the sense of "fool, idiot", perhaps suggesting they lacked mental abilities beyond that of a cup of coffee, or perhaps an unrelated word; the first syllable is reminiscent of jaboney, jiboney,^[2] and the second syllable is reminiscent of moke. Also spelled jamook, giamoke, and giamope, the term as used for an idiot has also been suggested to derive from a dialectal Italian (Neapolitan or Sicilian) word giamope.^[3] This dialect has produced other words with elided final vowels in American and Australian diaspora speech, such as gabagool.

In the 1960s it also began to be used as slang for male genitalia.

This term may be the origin of cup of joe and joe; see those entries for more.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈməʊk/
Rhymes: -əʊk

Noun

jamoke (countable and uncountable, plural jamokes)

(uncountable, slang) Coffee.
- 1957, Samuel Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Illinois 2002), page 71:
  The chartroom door popped open before the startled admirals in the cockpit, and the beaming face of the boat's cook appeared to offer the hospitality of his craft, thus: “Would yer Majesty like a cuppa jamoke?”
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:coffee
(countable, slang) A stupid person, fool.
- 2004, Dan Johnson, The Molotov Box, Xlibris, page 24:
  You and I both know that this is not enough money for the President and it's too damn much for some jamoke in the Bronx.
- 2023 August 10, Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil, “Urgent Care” (12:00 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[1], season 5, episode 6, spoken by John Slattery (John Slattery):
  “You ever see the movie Spotlight?” “About the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the sexual abuse coverup in the Catholic Church?” “Yeah, exactly.” “No.” “Oh. Well, in that I played Ben Bradlee, Jr. And that character begins with the accent, because the real Bradlee is from Boston. But he's an upper-crust guy. [Boston accent] Not like some jamoke standing around Kelly's Tavern in, uh, Revere Beach, you know what I mean?” “Very good, John Slattery.” “[regular accent] Not bad, right? But I was talking to him.”
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool
(countable, slang) The penis.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis

References

^ Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2015, Routledge, →ISBN), page 1250
^ “jamoke”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
^ Modern Language Teachers' Association of Sweden, Moderna språk (2002), volumes 96-97, page 30: Jamook (2:6) in ItAm means 'lame brain, half-wit'; according to Gagliano (1999) it comes from a dialect word giamope 'idiot'."

[1] Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2015, Routledge, →ISBN), page 1250

[2] “jamoke”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

[3] Modern Language Teachers' Association of Sweden, Moderna språk (2002), volumes 96-97, page 30: Jamook (2:6) in ItAm means 'lame brain, half-wit'; according to Gagliano (1999) it comes from a dialect word giamope 'idiot'."

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