Ginned up

[Grant Barrett]

On jeudi 16 novembre 2000 16:46, James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>Most of us are introduced to Eli Whitney and his
>cotton gin in elementary school.  The name "cotton
>gin" puzzled me because the only "gin" I knew of was
>the drink.  I finally connected "gin" with "engine"
>after several years.

I always thought it was somehow connected to the spinning jenny (jinny? ginny?
genny?) which in turn was related name-wise to a ginny mule which might have powered the
thing or its predecessor. But that's all old memories and half-thoughts so I dunno.