Was "hip hip hurrah" originally an anti-Semitic taunt? What is
the origin of the expression "hip hip hurrah"? According to one
book I've read, it derives from an abbreviation of the Latin
Hierusylema Est Perdita, "Jerusalem is destroyed." Apparently,
medieval antisemites yelled "Hep! Hep!" as they exiled or
executed innocent Jews. Can this be true? Can modern expressions
such as hip, hipster, hippie, and hip-hop have such an odious
etymology? Say it ain't so. You're not going to believe it, but
there may be a germ of truth to this bizarre story. Hip, hippie,
hipster, and presumably hip-hop all derive from hep (meaning
hip, of course), which dates from the turn of the century. There
are several theories where hep came from: (1) From the marching
cadence "hep, two, three, four." If you were hep, you were in
step with what was happening. (2) From Joe Hep, who ran a low-
life saloon in Chicago in the 1890s. (You may recall our
discussion of another 1890s Chicago saloonkeeper who allegedly
lent his name to the lang