CHOPS

[John McDonald]

Hi I see the word chops around a lot. I know it referes to technical ability but what does it stand for? Where does the term originate?

CHOPS - i thought for a while it meant card handling with ordinary packet for ages :help:

[Frank Dudgeon]

John:

I believe it may be a term borrowed from musicians. I've heard it among jazz players that say another musician has great chops - meaning, I think, technical virtuosity. I would imagine other performers picked it up and applied it to their areas of expertise.

[Jim Martin]

Louis Armstrong was the first to promote the usage of the term 'chops'. It had two meanings. First: as mentioned, to describe the level of one's technical ability and competence/expertise as a jazz musician; second: another name for the brass player's lips (i.e., the formation of the embouchure).

[Guest]

Jim's right, Louis Armstrong was the earliest user and it did refer first to the embrochure(sp?) and, since if that was good, then the overall performance would be good.

Nowadays, I hear the phrase "Props", as in "Props to you man....". What's the origin of that??

Adrian

[Jim Maloney_dup1]

Nowadays, I hear the phrase "Props", as in "Props to you man....". What's the origin of that??

UrbanDictionary defines it as an abbreviation of "proper respect." "Proper respect" had been previously shortened to "propers" in the 1960's (ref. Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin, "Respect"). Then, in the 1980's, it was shortened even further by the rap community to its current usage: "props".

-Jim

[John McDonald]

Thanks Jim :)