"Axe" for 'guitar'?

[Beverly Flanigan]

Funny that you should mention 'gig': a colleague of mine asked me just
yesterday where that word came from.  We checked the OED but found nothing
seemingly related (unless 'gig'=fun or silliness, hence, presumably,
'giggle'? Interesting that it originally referred to girls'
silliness...).  Musicians?

At 01:49 AM 4/21/00 -0700, you wrote:
>When I played in bands (from 1970-90, in upper Midwestern states and Northern
>California,) the term "axe" would be used in the way Chuck describes, but more
>often in rock, blues, funk and jazz line ups than country, top 40, show
>standards, adult contempo acts, etc. In connection with the reference to
>instruments as weapons, there were also times when articles of street drug
>paraphenalia would be used for purposes of comparison, as for instance, when
>one would be asked, "Is your 'rig' ready?" (a 'rig' minimally consisted of the
>needle a junkie would use to inject his drugs, but could also include the
>spoon
>his dope was cooked in, the belt used as a tourniquet to bring patent veins to
>the surface, even the candle and matches or zippo used to melt the mix before
>loading the syringe,) so that one could hear variants like, "Are you
>rigged for
>the gig?" (i.e., a 'gig' being the job the group was going to play,) or "Are
>you holding?" (as in carrying, holding, or being in possession of one's drugs
>or instruments,) or, for a drummer, "You've got your spikes?" (as in
>'drumsticks',) or in a retro Chicago gangster and current Compton crack dealer
>argot carry-over into the musical context, "You got your gat?" (as in "Gatling
>gun" or Thompson or Mac-10, etc., for one's instrument, and often also
>including the P.A. system, amps, and so on,) or "Are you strapped?" (as a
>detective or hit man has a holster for his weapon, to ask if a musician has
>similarly prepared himself for the show by 'strapping' his instrument on, or
>having it ready at hand.)  The lead guitarist for Bachman-Turner Overdrive,
>Randy Bachman, put out a solo LP in the late 1970s entitled "Ax" (with no "e"
>at the end of the word, if I recall correctly ... confirm or contest this
>claim, if you please ... I'm not sure of that terminal "e",) that was meant to
>be a reference to his rock guitar prowess. Guitar (and musical instrument)
>nomenclature is an infinitely varied subject to pursue, because so many of the
>comparative references are so contextual or idiosyncratic in character as
>to be
>practically impenetrable.  I knew individual bands that had devised shorthand
>for the styles they wanted one other to use by telling a bass player, for
>instance, to "shovel harder"
>
>Joseph Carson (San Francisco, CA)
>
>Chuck Borsos wrote: "My understanding of the usage of "axe" is that it can
>refer to any instrument commonly used in the contexts in which you will hear
>it, (not likely that someone would call a brac or zurna or bagpipe an
>axe), and
>that it will refer to the main instrument that a person plays." ...<snip> ...
>"I occasionally here musicians refer to their instruments as if weapons as
>well.  Such as, "Did you come armed?" for "Did you bring an instrument?" -
>Chuck Borsos - Santa Cruz, CA


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm