[Ads-l] shig < spoonerism or Cornish English?

[Barretts Mail]

About halfway through the second episode of season 1 of the American Barbecue Showdown, contestant Ashley Thompson must cook shrimp, something he is not comfortable doing. He says: "Hey, I might do a little shiggin’ while I’m here.”

The term shigging is immediately defined on the screen as: stealing someone’s barbecue secrets

Also, there is a competition barbecue team named “Shiggin Ain’t Easy."
https://www.atlantabbqstore.com/pages/sponsor-teams <https://www.atlantabbqstore.com/pages/sponsor-teams>
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Shiggin Ain’t Easy is a family-run Competition BBQ Team from Westland, Michigan. Buddy and Kristin Hammett, along with Justin Sondergaard and Mark Sondergaard, make up the Shiggin Family.  Shiggin Aint Easy are members of KCBS and GLBBQA. We have competed in 41 contests over our three years, and have been lucky enough to have seen the overall Top Ten 16 of those times.  Of those 16 Top Tens we notched 3-GC’s, 2-700’s, a 180 and multiple category wins so far.   We are a competitive team/family that loves taking the next step from year to year.  We can’t wait to see what 2022 has to offer.
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A. Barry Popik covers this at https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/shigging <https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/shigging>, with citations back to 2 Apr 2009. He cited a claim that it was coined by Darren Warth from the reputation of a shigging team (spooneristically) called Shigs in Pit. 

B. Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shig <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shig>) says this is slang and means: "At a competitive barbecuing event, to visit a rival's barbecue area in order to snoop on their cooking techniques.” See also Word Sense (https://www.wordsense.eu/shig/ <https://www.wordsense.eu/shig/>).

It is sometimes noted in definitions that this word is used (mainly) in a jocular sense. 

C. The OED has two definitions: to jig, trot; to shake. The etymology says it is probably related to shog, which has various definitions around the concept of “shaking,” including shaking a person to cause irritation. 

D. The Urban Dictionary provides examples back to 2009. 
shiggging
standing next to a cook with the intentions of stealing their cooking techniques
this other cook was helping me in the kitchen until i realized he was shigging my ideas
by TTTTTTTTTTI December 17, 2009

E. It’s worth mentioning that on 11 February 2007, Codec claims on the UD claims that the word is derived from "both Jack Black's power-scatting technique and Woody the Woodpecker's trademark laugh ('Shiggideh-geh-geh!’)." 

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1. to meet, esp. for pick up or transportation 
2. to borrow 
3. to take action quickly and without qualification

	1. "Yo, my ride bailed on me - can you shig me from the train station?” 
	2. "Lemme shig that right quick.” 
	3. "Dude thinks he can shig out that thesis the week before and be okay.”

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F. Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall (https://tinyurl.com/2p8dctyw <https://tinyurl.com/2p8dctyw>), p 50
M A Courtney, Thomas Q Couch
1880

Shig, v. to cheat
Shigged out, cheated out of every thing. “They shigged me of all my marbles.”
Shigged, cheated in a mean manner. “I was shigged out of that money.” T O

(There is a searchable OCRed version at https://archive.org/stream/glossarywordsin00coucgoog/glossarywordsin00coucgoog_djvu.txt <https://archive.org/stream/glossarywordsin00coucgoog/glossarywordsin00coucgoog_djvu.txt>)

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org