Jasper

Jasper pronunciation

/JASS-per/

Meaning

A jasper is a man, plain and simple, until tone loads it up. In Appalachian talk it often means some fellow you do not know, an outsider, or a character acting shady or foolish. Circus and country slang used it for a rustic bumpkin. On a porch it can be as soft as "some jasper" or as sharp as naming a thief.

How folks use it

• “Some jasper was parked down by the creek askin' directions.”
• “That jasper stole tools off his own uncle's truck.”

Origin and etymology

From the man's name Jasper, turned into American slang for a guy by the late 1800s. Circus talk paired it with rube for a countryman. In Southern and Appalachian English it stuck as fellow, stranger, or mildly shady character. Exact path from the name to the insult is murky, but the use is well documented.

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