On Wed, 30 Oct 2019 10:45:29 -0400, Bill Day
Post by Rich UlrichOn Tue, 29 Oct 2019 08:54:11 -0400, Tony Cooper
Post by Tony Cooper"A big part of that complexity is the rejiggering of the battlefield
since Trump earlier this month ordered a full U.S. troop withdrawal
from positions along the Turkish border in northeastern Syria."
In the phrase "the jig is up", "jig" is a trick. When the jig is up,
the marks have figured out the ruse or trick. Otherwise, "jig" is a
dance, music to dance by, or a fishing lure.
When we "rejigger" the battlefield, are we dancing around or trying to
trick the enemy?
"jig" is a word that seems to just pop up in various contexts and with
various endings because it seemed to someone like a handy short term
for 'manipulating', 'adjusting' or otherwise trying to fit, assemble
or mess with an object or situation.
I have heard it off & on for 60+ years, but seldom in a technical,
well defined context. The one exception is in a localized term for
fishing for squid. In that case it refers to the practice of
constantly 'jigging' a baited line up & down.
http://www.fao.org/3/t0511e/T0511E02.htm
As an aside, I also heard 'jigger' used by one group of kids as a
euphemism for a penis. I once did a search and found it in such a
list.
Yes. That was mentioned in the TV show QI in the first episode of the
J series/season.
https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/qi/episodes/10/1/
Jigger: Has 28 different meanings. It is a measuring device (a
jigger of rum), a handcar, a sail, a small weight, a snooker rest, a
flea, a prison cell, a boot-sole polisher, an old-looking person, a
distillery, a penis, a copper's knife, a potter's wheel, a back
passage, a lathe, a woman's coat, a sieve, a dancer, a pulley, a
door, a thingummy, a golf club, a ouija board, a policeman, and a
vagina.
I think it was the panellist Victoria Coren who commented that the
phrase "jiggery-pokery" could have a meaning based on two of the senses
of "jigger": penis and vagina.
The usual meaning of "jiggery-pokery" is
"Deceitful or dishonest ‘manipulation’; hocus-pocus, humbug".
Post by Rich UlrichOh... and in the nursery rhyme.. "Home again, Home again, jiggity-jog"
I'd expect the word to automatically appear just because it's easy to
fit and say when one can't think of some other term.
There is even a seldom heard folk song.. "Squid Jigging Ground"
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)