Jitney Jungle - Name

Name

There has been much local speculation about where the odd-sounding name "Jitney Jungle" came from. One legend has it that when the first store placed its first advertisement in a local newspaper, the store called itself the "Jitney Jingle" -- "jitney" was a slang word for a nickel, and the idea was that when you came out of the store, the nickels would still be jingling in your pocket because you'd saved so much money. But the newspaper, the story goes, fumbled the name of the store into "Jitney Jungle," and it stuck. However, this explanation was rejected by W. H. Holman, Jr., a member of the family who started Jitney Jungle. In his 1973 address to the Mississippi Committee of the Newcomen Society of the United States in Jackson, Holman said:

How did they get the name, Jitney-Jungle? The naming process began during a Sunday dinner at the home of Judge V. J. Stricker, a close friend of the families. The “Jitney” in the title was a popular name for the cut-rate five-cent taxis of that day, many of which were operated by returning veterans. It would be jitneys that would carry many of the cash customers to the store and back. Jitney was also a slang term for a nickel. That fitted in with the “nickel on a quarter” that the customer would save by patronizing the self-service store. Also, a popular expression of that time had to do with “jingling your jitneys in your pockets.” Thus, Judge Stricker ventured the name Jitney-Jingle. There is a legend that “Jingle” got to be “Jungle” by virtue of a printer’s error in the first advertisement. Rather it was a play on words by Mr. Will McCarty. Every Jitney would be a jungle of bargains that could save the customer a “jitney” on a quarter."