jig/gig

[Laurence Urdang]

Something got lost in translation.
  The only expression I ever heard was "The jig is up," with jig as in jiggle (not giggle). When I recently heard it with the "j," I assumed it was from a (younger) person who thought it had to do with "gig" as used in the entertainment field.  That might have made some remote semantic sense, but "gig" did not come into my life till about 30 years ago, and I thought it was a rather recent coinage.  I know, the OED shows first use in 1926, but I believe it was a "term of art" in the music biz till relatively recently.
  In any event, the expression I know was pronounced with a "j," not a "g," and I didn't mis-hear anything.  I'd wager that it appears in a fair number of 1940s' movies.
  L. Urdang
  Old Lyme

Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
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Poster: Jonathan Lighter
Subject: Re: jig/gig
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Everybody I've known who's said it (incuding earlier generations) has always said "Gig" as in "good."

So if Larry once thought "Gig" sounded like "jig," but got over it, millions probably think "gig" does too.

JL

Laurence Horn wrote:
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Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: jig/gig
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>On Sep 18, 2007, at 8:57 AM, Larry Horn wrote:
>
>>Am I remembering correctly that the actor Gig Young's first name
>>... was pronounced with velar
>>softening?
>
>for what it's worth, my recollection is just the opposite.
>
>arnold
>
You're probably right; I'm not at all confident of mine. What I
mostly remember securely is that whichever pronunciation I had come
up with based on the spelling turned out to be wrong, but not really
which one it was.

LH

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