What Does CP Time Mean? The Meaning and History of the Phrase
If you grew up in a Black household, you have probably heard someone say "we're running on CP Time" while the whole family was still looking for their shoes. But what does CP Time actually mean, where did the phrase come from, and is it okay to say? Here is the short history, plus how the phrase became the name of a game.
What Does CP Time Mean?
CP Time stands for "Colored People's Time." It is slang for running late, or for a relaxed approach to schedules. If the cookout invitation says 2:00 and the first plate gets made at 4:30, that is CP Time. You will also see it written as CPT or C.P. Time.
Inside the Black community it is almost always used as a joke: a little self-aware teasing between family and friends about the aunt who is "on her way" or the party that never starts on time.
Where Did the Phrase "CP Time" Come From?
The phrase is more than a hundred years old. Word historians have found "colored people's time" in print in the Chicago Defender, one of the most important Black newspapers in America, as early as the 1910s, and the shortened "C.P. time" shows up in newspapers by the mid-1920s.
The phrase grew out of an old stereotype that Black people did not value punctuality, and that is why its history is complicated. Over time, Black folks took the phrase and turned it into an inside joke. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his staff were known to joke about "CPT" when they were running behind.
CP Time in Pop Culture
Once you start listening for it, CP Time is everywhere in Black film and TV:
- Movies: The phrase pops up in films like The Best Man (1999), Bamboozled (2000) and BlacKkKlansman (2018).
- TV: It has been joked about on shows like The Boondocks, The Wire and Empire.
- The Daily Show: In 2018, Roy Wood Jr. launched a recurring segment called "CP Time," a comedic look at Black history.
- Theater: In 1983, playwright Leslie Lee premiered Colored People's Time, a play told through scenes from African American history.
Is It Okay to Say "CP Time"?
Context is everything. Between Black family and friends, CP Time is a lighthearted in-joke. Coming from outside the community, it can land as the old stereotype it started as, and public figures who have tried the joke have been called out for it. The general rule: if you would not tell the joke at a Black family reunion, do not tell it at all.
Quick Answers
- What does CPT mean in slang? Colored People's Time, meaning running late.
- Is CP Time a real phrase or just internet slang? It is real and has been in print for more than a century.
- What is the opposite of CP Time? Being "on time," or as some aunties say, "early is on time."
CP Time, the Game
Our trivia game CP Time takes its name from that same feeling. The timer is random: it can go off at any moment between 3 and 10 seconds, so you never know if it will be quick or late. Just like CP Time, you never really know. (On the box, CP stands for "Cultured People Time.")
The free companion app (iOS and Android) runs the dramatic countdown and buzzer, keeps score, and has Solo and Team Play modes. You can even mirror it to your TV for group play.
Want more? Add a CP Time Expansion Pack, or browse all of our Black card games and trivia games.