Editing Jitterbug (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:Dancing the jitterbug.jpg|thumb|Dancing the jitterbug, [[Los Angeles]], 1939]]
According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED'') the word "jitterbug" is a combination of the words "jitter" and "bug";<ref name=jitterbugn /><ref name=jitterbugv /> both words are of unknown origin.<ref name=jittern /><ref name=jitterv /><ref name=bug2 />

The first use of the word "jitters" quoted by the ''OED'' is from 1929, Act II of the play ''[[Strictly Dishonorable (play)|Strictly Dishonorable]]'' by [[Preston Sturges]] where the character Isabelle says: "Willie's got the jitters" is answered by a judge "Jitters?" to which Isabelle answers "You know, he makes faces all the time."<ref name=jittern /><ref name=Wentworth /> The second quote in the ''OED'' is from the N.Y. Press from 2 April 1930: "The game is played only after the mugs and wenches have taken on too much gin and they arrive at the state of jitters, a disease known among the common herd as heebie jeebies."<ref name=jittern /><ref name=heebiejeebie /> 

The first quote containing the term “jitter bug” recorded by the ''OED'' is from the 1934 [[Cab Calloway]] song “Jitter Bug”. The magazine ''Song Hits'', in the 19 November 1939 issue, published the lyrics, including: “They’re four little jitter bugs. He has the jitters ev’ry morn; that’s why jitter sauce was born.”<ref name="jitterbugn" />

According to H. W. Fry in his review of ''Dictionary of Word Origins'' by [[Joseph Twadell Shipley]] in 1945 the word "jitters" "is from a [[spoonerism]] ['bin and jitters' for 'gin and bitters']...and originally referred to one under the influence of gin and bitters".<ref name=Wentworth />

Wentworth and Flexner explains "jitterbug" as "[o]ne who, though not a musician, enthusiastically likes or understands swing music; a swing fan" or "[o]ne who dances frequently to swing music" or "[a] devotee of jitterbug music and dancing; one who follows the fashions and fads of the jitterbug devotee... To dance, esp[ecially] to jazz or swing music and usu[ally] in an extremely vigorous and athletic manner".<ref name=Wentworth />