Square is slang for a person who is conventional and old-fashioned, similar to a fuddy-duddy. This sense of the word "square" originated with the American jazz community in the 1940s in reference to people "out of touch" with musical trends.
History
The English word square dates to the 13th century and derives from the Old French esquarre.By the 1570s, it was in use in reference to someone or something honest or fair. and "square deal", meaning an outcome equitable to all sides. A West Country variant on the phrase, "fairs pears", bears the same meaning and was first traced by Cecil Sharp in 1903 when visiting his friend (and lyrics editor) Charles Marson in Hambridge, South Somerset.
The sense of square as a derogatory reference to someone conventional or old-fashioned dates to the jazz scene of the 1940s; the first known reference is from 1944. There it applied to someone who failed to appreciate the medium of jazz, or more broadly, someone whose tastes were out of date and out of touch. It may derive from the rigid motion of a conductor's hands in a conventional, four-beat rhythm.
See also
- The Man
- The Establishment