The circus origin of ‘Hep’

The earliest published appearance of hep, meaning knowledgeable about the latest thing, has been traced to 1903 and a "Modern Slang Glossary" that appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: "hept--To get wise or next [sic".1 The cartoonist Tad Dorgan, who has been credited with any number of coinages, used it in one of his panels the following year. in 1907 Ring Lardner put it in the mouth of a solider in his story "Defense," published in McClure's Magazine. The word appears to have been in wide circulation before World War I, and, although later supplanted by hip, is still in use.