the jig is up

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS has "The jig is over" from 1777, and "The Gig [sic] is up" from 1778
(showing the contemporaneousness of {jig} and {gig}).  The 1777 ex. is the
only one in the U.S. that I'm aware of with "over" rather than "up."

HDAS has "jig," 'black person,' from 1922.

JL
On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 7:11 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: the jig is up
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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