alligator

noun

Etymology

Developed from a meaning of the noun alligator that is recorded earlier in other varieties of English, avid swing enthusiasts being likened to this predatory animal in having a voracious appetite for swing music. Perhaps compare the name of "Alligator Hop," a swing track recorded in 1923 by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band (of which Louis Armstrong was a member: see quot. 1936), which may reflect punning allusion to this meaning of alligator, implying earlier currency. See OED alligator, n.2. Compare OED alligator, n.2 5a.

Meaning & use

  1. dated music
    2000–A swing music enthusiast who is not a musician, or a white person who excessively consumes swing music.
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    2000
    In the jargon of the "alligators" he just "sends me" with his soulful tooting and I am enthralled in ecstasy when he beats out such ditties as "Am I Blue".
    A. Sayle Barcelona Plates 191
    2005
    The premiere was attended by swing fans, sometimes known as "alligators," the idly curious and the elite of Negro society, including Ethel Wates and Joe Lewis.
    Digit October 16
    2007
    I have heard some of them explain that [gate] came from the word "alligator"—that is the word we use for a person who is not a player himself but who loves to sit and listen to swing music.
    Independent 6 February 26/2

See also

  • swing