Q, I very much appreciate your well documented information.

You're probably right that "The OED is still irreplaceable". I've got to get a copy one of these days.

But since the English language is living, I'm wondering how a print dictionary [let alone an online dictionary] keeps pace with newly coined words & phrases as well as changes in slang and other colloquial expressions.

For instance, imo "cool" has changed meanings and is much less a superlative than it used to be. And groovy was played out for at least 20 years if not longer. You can still hear African American youth, young adults and urban radio hosts saying "That's cool" {meaning "That's alright"}. But if African Americans of a certain age and occupation want to [informally] say that something is great, they say "That's off the chain". "Off the chain" used to be "off the hook". An earlier way of saying that was "That's the bomb." "The bomb" came from something "blowing up". And something blowing up may have come from something exploding or something "smokin" and being "hot".

Of course, there may be other terms newer than "off the chain" that mean the same thing as this, but that is the phrase I've been hearing on the radio and elsewhere for at least the last few years.

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And thanks, Q for suggeting that book "Reminiscences of Isaac and Sukey". I'll have to read it. The nickname "Sukey" may be more common among Black females in the Caribbean. I think it is rarely used-let alone popular among African American females from at least the mid 1950s to now. As a matter of fact, I've only known a few Black females named Susan. And I'm afraid that any African American girl or woman with the name Sukey would have to endure alot of teasing-or change her name.

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Re "Hilo", the meaning of "Hilo" as "the name of a port in Hawaii or Peru" don't seem to work with all of the uses of that word in folk songs. For instance, Hilo, Johnny Brown, stand to yer ground!" does seem to use "Hilo" as a substitute for "hello" as Crane Driver suggested may occur. And "Young gals, can't ye Hilo?" doesn't seem to be short for "Can't you [go to] Hilo?"

I'm just sayin...