gripe

[Paul Johnston]

There's also "gi(v)es me the grue" (Makes me sick) and "gi(v)es me the boak"--the last one, historically bowk (and still that in Northern England) is usually a verb, to vomit.  "grue", I think, is the same word as the beginning of "gruesome".  Don't know if either of these words made it over here to the US.

Paul Johnston

On Oct 18, 2010, at 7:56 PM, Robin Hamilton wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM>
> Subject:      Re: gripe
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> 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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