gripe

Robin Hamilton robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM
Mon Oct 18 23:56:52 UTC 2010


> Note: common British _pissed_ 'drunk' is poorly attested in the U.S.
> before
> ca1980 and is still infrequent.  British _piss off_ 'go away' is likewise
> recent and infrequent here.  I suspect that what currency they each have
> comes significantly from exposure to British rock culture.
>
> JL

"Pissed" (drunk) and "pissed off" (annoyed, as in "I'm pissed off," "that
really pisses me off") along with "piss off!" (go away) coexist in current
British English.  Dunno to what degree some of these locutions reflect
American usage.

But as for "gripe", there's the possibly analogous British expression, "that
gives me the gip [sic, pronounced <djip>]", literally, causes a stabbing
pain in my intestine but more usually found in the metaphorical form,
"annoys me", "gets right up my nose".

Much to my surprise, "gives me the gip" seems to be sparsely attested on any
of the three googles, whether general, news, or books.  Odd that, but --
thought the phrase was common as dirt.

(Probably totally unconnected, and possibly an artefact of the translation
process, but in 1528 Johann Faust was apparently told by the good burgers of
Ingolstadt to piss off out of town.  The translation reads, "told to spend
his penny elsewhere".)

Robin

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