the jig is up

[victor steinbok]

Not to question /your/ recollection, but what you heard sounds
apocryphal. Well--a part of it is, anyway. But a part is just flat out
wrong. Lynching did not begin in the first half of the 18th century
AFAIK. Wiki claims Revolutionary War origin, but it did not acquire
racial content until the Civil War. FWIW "jig" and "jig is over/up" is
much older, is it not?

It does sound like "picnic" folk etymology, as well as the claim that
"handicapped" used to be "cap-in-hand". This goes even beyond
"niggardly". It's certainly possible that it did acquire the less than
favorable connotation along with lynching, but it still sounds like a
post-formation on "jig/jigaboo", which came even later. Am I correct
in the assumption that ESA refers to "slur" terminology that isn't?

VS-)

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The "pseudo-racist origin" (or the "racist pseudo-origin") is that the
> phrase began during  lynchings.  Once the hanging was underway, whites in
> the area would smirk, "The jig is up!"
>
> According to one or two of my undergraduate classmates at NYU in 1970-71.
> I've encountered the story since then too.
>
> JL

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