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From Mavens' Word of the Day:
"How American coffee came to be called joe is not well documented, but the leading theory connects it to the once-popular song Old Black Joe written by Stephen Collins Foster (author of Oh! Susannah and Camptown Races) in 1860. The name joe
appears to have been primarily used in the military, and particularly
the navy, during the first half of the twentieth century. The slang was
popular enough to be included in the Reserve Officer's Manual of 1931 along with java (named after the coffee bean) and jamoke
(a combination of the words java and mocha, pronounced ja-moh-kee).
Bayler & Carnes commented on the military's devotion to its joe in 1943: "Coffee is the marine's best friend and the Corps might well adopt the good old "joe-pot" for its emblem" (Wake I.)."
"How American coffee came to be called joe is not well documented, but the leading theory connects it to the once-popular song Old Black Joe written by Stephen Collins Foster (author of Oh! Susannah and Camptown Races) in 1860. The name joe
appears to have been primarily used in the military, and particularly
the navy, during the first half of the twentieth century. The slang was
popular enough to be included in the Reserve Officer's Manual of 1931 along with java (named after the coffee bean) and jamoke
(a combination of the words java and mocha, pronounced ja-moh-kee).
Bayler & Carnes commented on the military's devotion to its joe in 1943: "Coffee is the marine's best friend and the Corps might well adopt the good old "joe-pot" for its emblem" (Wake I.)."
Here's one explanation (espoused by the US Navy's website!):
Josephus Daniels (18 May 1862-15 January 1948) was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Among his reforms of the Navy were inaugurating the practice of making 100 Sailors from the Fleet eligible for entrance into the Naval Academy, the introduction of women into the service, and the abolishment of the officers' wine mess. From that time on, the strongest drink aboard Navy ships could only be coffee and over the years, a cup of coffee became known as "a cup of Joe".
You may enjoy this video response from the "Hot For Words" channel. You may also just want to take the answers that have already been submitted, and turn the volume down... :)
There's me being unhelpful again! Some people can't take a joke. For those that care, "hot for words" is in fact a dictionary show where the nice lady looks at where words come from, and in the linked episode she goes into detail about where the phrase "cup of joe" comes from. So there :-P
Around the time period this became popular, there was a phenomenon of "dinerspeak": waitresses would call out things like "burn one, drag it through the garden and pin a rose on it" (grilled hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion); "drag it through Georgia" (chocolate soda made with Coke syrup); "give it halitosis" (add garlic).
Joe was the popular image of rough-and-ready manhood around the heyday of the diner, so my guess is that this is just one more example.
Joe was the popular image of rough-and-ready manhood around the heyday of the diner, so my guess is that this is just one more example.
source(s):
http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/8540/Food++Dining/American+Din...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GreasySpoon
And too much TV.
http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/8540/Food++Dining/American+Din...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GreasySpoon
And too much TV.
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