FROM THE LEXICON - CUDC Quarterly 2:2 - Spring 2002

Jaywalking

America has always been a world leader in traffic regulation, so it’s not really surprising that this word is an American invention of the early 20th century. Nor is it surprising that it quickly spread through the English speaking world, along with traffic signals and mass-produced automobiles. It’s not entirely clear when it became criminalized (at least on the books), but "crossing the street without regard for traffic regulations" has an instructive and colorful etymological background.

"Jay" has a set of meanings quite independent of the family of sometimes annoying birds with which we associate it. If anything, the birds were named for human "jays," who are defined as impertinent chatterers, showy or flashy women, stupid or silly people. In late 19th century America, the noun became an adjective, used to  describe anything outlandish, underbred, provincial or hickish. Its use with regard to pedestrian behavior probably carried both meanings. The jaywalker was impertinent, but perhaps also too much of a bumpkin to realize that crossing the street in the big city is a complicated procedure that requires government oversight.

Of course, "impertinent" is precisely what the jaywalker must seem to the modern planner or engineer. For them, the city is a machine in which efficiency of flow is paramount. The jaywalker adds noise to the system, but perhaps this is where the word’s latent connotations of exuberance, chatter, noise and gaeity come to the fore. The noise created by jaywalking may gum up the system but it also helps constitute the street as a space for performance. Jawalking is a surplus of movement that constitutes a kind of urban speech and may even be a sign of health.