Jassum, that Vigor and Vital Force

A North Carolina listener is curious about his meemaw’s use of a term meaning “food” that he heard as either jasmine or jassum. A dialectal term with various spellings that include jassum, jasum, and jazm can mean “gravy,” “sauce,” or even “juice from a rotten apple.” It may stem from an older root that suggests energy, vigor, or vital force and may in fact be related to the word jazz. This is part of a complete episode.
https://soundcloud.com/waywordradio/1667-caller-joseph-jassum

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