gripe

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/18/2010 04:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>(When I did hear it, it was usually - i.e., all dozen or so
>times since the '70s - in the emphatic form, "What really gripes my ass
>is...").

Mayhap this "ass" comes from "the gripe", n.1. "[2]b. An intermittent
spasmodic pain in the bowels. Usually pl., colic pains."  This surely
is distress, as in gripe, v.1, "7. To grieve, afflict, distress" as
given us by Victor.  I think I would have understood Victor's example
of the verb use by analogy with the noun in my youth, circa 1950, in
NYC and/or Boston.  But I can't say whether I heard it or read it.

Joel

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