Dipper [Dippermouth]

[Peter Jansens]

I'm being confused about the meaning or origin of the word Dipper as a nickname in Afro-American blues and jazz circles of the 1920s - 1930s.
Louis Armstrong was called 'Dippermouth' and there has been a blues singer who went by the name 'Dipper Boy'.
There is also a 1923 tune called Dipper Mouth Blues and it is rumoured that gave Armstrong his nickname. But why?

 

[Cagey]

It may be a reference to his large mouth.
If that is correct, it's based on this meaning of dipper:

a cuplike container with a long handle, used for dipping.
​

A dipper in use: ----> CLICK
​

 

[Parla]

According to the New Dictionary of American Slang, edited by Robert L. Chapman (1986), Cagey (post #2) is correct:

dipper n = DIPPERMOUTH

dippermouth n A person with a large mouth: Dipper, that was my nickname, short for Dippermouth—Louis Armstrong

 

[bennymix]

I agree. But it might be noted that talk of 'dippers' is not so common. However the phrase "Big Dipper"--the constellation-- IS quite well known. So the term has links with 'big.'

It may be a reference to his large mouth.
If that is correct, it's based on this meaning of dipper:

a cuplike container with a long handle, used for dipping.
​

A dipper in use: ----> CLICK
​

 

[Peter Jansens]

Thank you very much!