What is a 'gig'?

Subject: What is a 'gig'?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:22 PM

Don't know if this should be below the line or not.

Ok, we all know what a gig is, but what is it? Where does the word come from? What does it really mean?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:24 PM

1000 Megs....

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:40 PM

Apart from it's being a light horse drawn carriage, I haven't a clue.

But, like Lynne, I would really like to know how it came to mean a performance.

Don T.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: GUEST,Dave (Bridge)
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:47 PM

Apparently, black musicians/singers in America were not allowed to sing in the streets so they sang on horse drawn 'gigs' so they could get away if harrassed by the law.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:47 PM

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gig

It's a whole lotta things really!

neat

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:47 PM

My godfather used is as fishing term but I can't remember what it meant. No help to this thread really.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Rasener
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:53 PM

Here we go. Amazing what a search can do. :-)

Gig
Gig is an interesting word with a variety of etymologically unrelated senses.

The oldest sense is that of a top or other whirling object. It dates to c. 1440. The origin is unknown. The sense of top is the source of some other senses, such as a giddy or flighty person, fun, merriment, and a whim.

The sense of a light, two-wheeled carriage dates to 1791. This sense is a transference from the earlier sense. The motion of the carriage and its tendency to upset are not unlike that of a top. Also related is the sense of gig meaning a ship's boat. This nautical sense dates to 1790.

Gig can also mean a spear or harpoon, and it is a verb meaning to spear or stab, as in Gig'em Aggies. This sense originally comes from the Spanish word for harpoon, fisga. The Spanish word appears in English in 1565 as fisgig. An alternate spelling is fizgig and the word is also folk-etymologized as fishgig, a harpoon for stabbing fish. The clipped form gig appears in 1722.

This brings us to the most common sense, that of a musician's engagement or job. The musical sense dates to 1926 and first arose as jazz slang in the US. But the origin is not in music. The use of gig to mean a non-musical job or occupation dates to 1908, and the sense of a business affair or event is a year older than that. The origin is unknown, but it may come from the slang term gag. This dates to 1890 and means business method, practice, or behavior. All these sense are American slang usages.

These last senses may be from, or be influenced by, an obsolete sense of gig. This sense of gig is a type of bet in a numbers game. It dates to 1847 and is an arbitrary use of the sense of gig as a carriage (a horse is another type of bet).

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:58 PM

From Clarence Major "Dictionary of Afro-American Slang", {New York, International Publishers, 1970, p.59}:
gig- "Originally a jazzman's job; later it came to mean any kind of job"

gig around- "working at any number of jobs"

-snip-

From: http://www.word-detective.com/back-n.html

"Gig," on the other hand, has remained in fairly constant use since it first appeared in its slang sense among jazz musicians in the mid-1920's. Meaning, as you say, a musician's "date" or engagement to play, "gig" is actually both a noun and a verb, though it's more common to hear a musician speak of "playing a gig" than "gigging." Though a "steady gig" is prized in the notoriously unpredictable life of a musician, the word itself carries overtones of the short-term "one-night stand." Reflecting its roots in jazz, "gig" is almost exclusively used by jazz, pop or rock musicians -- cellists play recitals or engagements, not "gigs."

Most dictionaries say that the origin of "gig" in this sense is unknown, but it really doesn't seem that great a mystery. Appearing in English in the 15th century, "gig" meant something that spins, as in "whirligig." Subsequent meanings included "joke," "merriment" and (aha!) "dance." Since playing at parties and dances is every musician's meal ticket early in their career, it's easy to see how "gig" became generalized to mean any paying job."

-snip-

And from http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorg.htm

"Gig is an interesting word with a variety of etymologically unrelated senses.

The oldest sense is that of a top or other whirling object. It dates to c. 1440. The origin is unknown. The sense of top is the source of some other senses, such as a giddy or flighty person, fun, merriment, and a whim.

The sense of a light, two-wheeled carriage dates to 1791. This sense is a transference from the earlier sense. The motion of the carriage and its tendency to upset are not unlike that of a top. Also related is the sense of gig meaning a ship's boat. This nautical sense dates to 1790.

Gig can also mean a spear or harpoon, and it is a verb meaning to spear or stab, as in Gig'em Aggies. This sense originally comes from the Spanish word for harpoon, fisga. The Spanish word appears in English in 1565 as fisgig. An alternate spelling is fizgig and the word is also folk-etymologized as fishgig, a harpoon for stabbing fish. The clipped form gig appears in 1722.

This brings us to the most common sense, that of a musician's engagement or job. The musical sense dates to 1926 and first arose as jazz slang in the US. But the origin is not in music. The use of gig to mean a non-musical job or occupation dates to 1908, and the sense of a business affair or event is a year older than that. The origin is unknown, but it may come from the slang term gag. This dates to 1890 and means business method, practice, or behavior. All these sense are American slang usages.

These last senses may be from, or be influenced by, an obsolete sense of gig. This sense of gig is a type of bet in a numbers game. It dates to 1847 and is an arbitrary use of the sense of gig as a carriage (a horse is another type of bet)".

****
Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 02:59 PM

Sorry for the repeat, Villan!

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:10 PM

GUEST,Dave (Bridge)

I don't suppose you were serious, but in case you were,
there's plenty of documentation of Black musicians performing on sidewalks. As to Black musicians performing in carriages so they would have a means of getting away from the harrassment of the law, I don't think that would really work. Do you?

And I assume you meant the unfair harrassment of the law, right?

Sorry, but those are my ancestors you're talkin about. And regardless of race or ethnicity, IMO the world owes early Black jazzmen and jazzwomen a huge debt and much more respect then is usually given them.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:19 PM

GUEST,Dave (Bridge),

I owe you an apology. I was snippy with you and overly sensitive about imagined slights. I shouldn't have been so. Your use of the word "harrassment" implies that the law was unfairly targeting these musicians.

I should have played pass what was probably your way of combining a couple of meanings or the word "gig", and given you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't mean to disparage Black musicians/singers.

I'm sorry.

To all Mudcatters- this is not a good way for me to start off the new year. I apologize to you too, and I'm determined to do better.

Azizi

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Rasener
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:19 PM

No problems Azizi :-)

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:23 PM

The Villan,
I assume from the time of your last post that your message refers to my 02 Jan 06 - 02:59 PM comment.

However, it would also be great if you had extrasensory perception and was referring to my 02 Jan 06 - 03:19 PM post.

What the world needs now are more psychics!

:o}

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: MairSea
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:28 PM

"We can eat tonight - God is good"!

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:44 PM

I don't know the entomology, but I knew what was meant the first time I heard it.

We used to gig frogs as well as fish. We used a barbed trident, but with prongs only about 3 or 4 inches long. I'm not sure it's legal anymore.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 03:45 PM

There is also an obsolete meaning of gig as to move to and fro or to go backwards and forwards(OED) and I had wondered if that was a source - the verb referring to playing at various locations, leading to a derived noun for the actual event.

Mick

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 04:09 PM

You might want to check some of the old threads-- been discussed at length.

Carry on!

~S~

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Rasener
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 04:27 PM

That as well Azizi :-)

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 05:32 PM

But then there is Gig Harbor in the state of Washington. Is that the "Fiddler's Green" for musicians who retire?

We'll the gig's up! We're all heading there for one helluva party!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 05:41 PM

That's cool guys, and answers my question brilliantly. So presumably, if I get a booking to do a talk, I can't really call it a gig? Or if I did, would I be contributing to word evolution?

Funny that I should have come back to this having just watched an interesting prog on tv called "Balderdash and Piffle" about word histories. (The first in a series of 6)

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 05:51 PM

16724: An ancestor of this thread, saying much the same, same, same-
Gig

And a reminder from that thread- the Engish seeminglyare responsible for the musician's term, first printed in the journal "Melody Maker," 1926, 1927, and its use in London. (OED)

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 06:13 PM

Thanks, Villan.

****

MBSLynne, as to your question about the use of the word "gig" to refer to a booking to do a talk, maybe it depends on whether that talk has anything to do with creativity, whether the booking is time limited, and whether you are getting paid to do it.

That said, I remember my jazz musician ex-husband using the terms "gig" and "giggin" to refer to the short term paid performances at nightclubs or elsewhere he & his group did. And I'm aware of other musicians/singers {other than jazz musicians} who use the term "gig" to describe their short term musician jobs. I'm not sure if "gig" is used for a long term music job. Maybe there are no such things. LOL!

However, I have never used "gig" to refer to the time limited, African storytelling sessions and the other interactive cultural programming based on children's rhymes that I'm contracted to do. Instead, I use the noun "presentations" and the verb "present".

****

And btw, Lynne, your use of "guys" to describe all of the posters on this thread is an indication that-in some context- the word "guys" has evolved to be gender neutral.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 07:43 PM

I thought 'Fiddlers' Green' referred to sailors/fishermen heaven.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:12 PM

When I was a musician/folksinger, gigs were the things that, when I placed them all on my callendar, hopefully, made it more black than white every month!! ;-)

Art

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:12 PM

Yes to that, Art. I know whatcha mean.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:14 PM

However, gig was not only a noun as in "Hey, stop the eviction, I have a gig." People whold say, "Where's so and so?" Answer: "Oh, she's giggin' at such and such a club." I have also heard it used to mean work as in "He got a straight gig, 9 to 5."

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:18 PM

The name Gig Harbor refers to the nautical meaning, i.e., a small boat.   To be precise, according to one online dictionary whose veracity has not been verified, it's a long, light rowing boat, usually reserved for the ship's captain. Also known as a gig-boat...which leaves one wondering which of the meanings of "gig" it derives from.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:23 PM

"Gig
Gig is an interesting word with a variety of etymologically unrelated senses.

The oldest sense is that of a top or other whirling object. It dates to c. 1440. The origin is unknown. The sense of top is the source of some other senses, such as a giddy or flighty person, fun, merriment, and a whim.

The sense of a light, two-wheeled carriage dates to 1791. This sense is a transference from the earlier sense. The motion of the carriage and its tendency to upset are not unlike that of a top. Also related is the sense of gig meaning a ship's boat. This nautical sense dates to 1790.

Gig can also mean a spear or harpoon, and it is a verb meaning to spear or stab, as in Gig'em Aggies. This sense originally comes from the Spanish word for harpoon, fisga. The Spanish word appears in English in 1565 as fisgig. An alternate spelling is fizgig and the word is also folk-etymologized as fishgig, a harpoon for stabbing fish. The clipped form gig appears in 1722.

This brings us to the most common sense, that of a musician's engagement or job. The musical sense dates to 1926 and first arose as jazz slang in the US. But the origin is not in music. The use of gig to mean a non-musical job or occupation dates to 1908, and the sense of a business affair or event is a year older than that. The origin is unknown, but it may come from the slang term gag. This dates to 1890 and means business method, practice, or behavior. All these sense are American slang usages.

These last senses may be from, or be influenced by, an obsolete sense of gig. This sense of gig is a type of bet in a numbers game. It dates to 1847 and is an arbitrary use of the sense of gig as a carriage (a horse is another type of bet)."

from

Wordorigins.org: Letter G

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:24 PM

Yes, Peace, I bet you and all of us who do/did piecework like us music folks did over the years would surely know what we mean.

There was a direct relationship between the number of days that got blacked in for me and my own personal anxiety level. On occasion, if the page stayed too white, I'd have to sell one of my prized instruments to scrape the rent together.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:30 PM

Art,

There was the odd rent party now and then. They were fun. But usually all anyone could bring was a few bucks. Interesting times. I went to one rent party that got so loud with music that the landlord evicted the guy.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:33 PM

As I said in another thread. once I had a gig in a record store in Chicago during the day. (The music gigs were at night.) Years later, after I was a full time musician, our son was born and I had to take that selling gig again in the same store. It felt like a real step backward, until I saw that it was just day-job-vu all over again!

Art ;-)

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jan 06 - 08:35 PM

LOL

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: open mike
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 01:04 AM

if it was mentioned above, i missed it:
frog gigging is usually illegal , i think,
according to most game wardens.

there is a harpoon like object used to
spear them...and often lights are used
to attract and confust them, from what
I have heard. taste like chicken, from
what i have heard, so does Homo Sapien.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Kaleea
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 01:29 AM

I know many "classically" trained Musicians who have always used the term "gig" for their paid performances. I've also heard many of the "Jive" language terms of the 20's, 30's, 40's still in use by Musicians from all genres. Ain't it great--the Jivetalk is still spoken by Musicians today.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 03:22 AM

When I was younger (in a previous century), the term "gig" was also used in the sense of needling or stirring someone, usually with humorous intent, as in setting them up as the butt of a joke.

Possibly a localised Queensland/Australian usage?

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 06:41 AM

Well the sense I have of 'gig' is that it's a one-off booking to perform or entertain, so, while I call my jobs talks because that's what I do, I think I could possibly call them gigs because I hope I do entertain. They are one off bookings (and yes, I like to see the calendar looking more black than white on account of them!), I do get paid for them and since I have written them, I feel they are creative in a way. I certainly feel as though I'm performing and get the same adrenalin boost as one does when singing or playing to an audience.

Azizi you are right about 'guys' of course. I grew up in Australia where the term was generally used to mean both sexes and when I came to England in the late 70s i had a few females object to being called guys, but it has evolved here too now, to mean both.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: s&r
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 07:47 AM

Years ago I was taught that grammatically 'man' embraces 'woman'. This is no longer the case it seems. but a strange quirk gives 'guys' embracing 'gals'.

Stu

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 11:33 AM

Physically as well, Stu

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: breezy
Date: 03 Jan 06 - 12:20 PM

not derived from 'gag' in 'engagement'

or gigolo

or

giggle

or

got 'is guitar

then?

I get 'bookings' not gigs


Burns night 26th jan
The Anchor Byfleet, surrey

I'm the 'anti-burns event'

apparently

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 09:02 AM

Rapaire said:

I don't know the entomology, but I knew what was meant the first time I heard it.

You're right: Some of those explanations have got bugs in them!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 11:58 AM

This all goes back to pre christian Ireland when the Sile na Gig was a symbol on the door of the local brothel. Any chap going on a "Gig" at that time had only one thing in mind - - - carrying his musical instrument was merely an alibi.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: MMario
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 12:14 PM

"guys" did not have to evolve to be gender neutral - In English the masculine automatically includes the feminine unless it is specified to be masuline only. the feminine on the other hand excludes the masculine.

Many actors use gig to refer to various jobs - especially one-shot jobs.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Carol
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 12:52 PM

I always thought it was a 'cool' way to say that you were being paid to perform especially among the 'amateur' folkies i.e. they were letting people know they had reached the dizzy heights of being paid to perform, although why they can't say they have a booking I don't know.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:03 PM

Re the small spear connection, mentioned above ...

Where I grew up in Western Australia, this implement, used for catching jilgies (small marron-like crustaceans) and the like, was called a "gigee" (pronounced as in "gidgie") and I just assumed that it was from a local Aboriginal language.

Interesting ...


Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 10:40 PM

Oxford English Dictionary, 1987 supplement- as a musician's term.
Gig: "An engagement for a musician or musicians playing jazz, dance-music, etc., spec. a 'one-night stand; also the place of such a performance."
gigster- one who does gigs.

1st in print: "Melody Maker," Sept 2, 1926- One popular 'gig' band makes use of a nicely printed booklet.
Others:
1927, May- This seven-piece combination does many 'gigs' in S. E. London, but is hoping to secure a resident engagement in the near future.
1934, S. B. Nelson, "All About Jazz;" Jack runs numerous bands which play 'gig' work.

England is generally accepted as the place of origin of the term, which did not appear in "Downbeat" until 1939.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 11:04 PM

Q, you wrote that "England is generally accepted as the place of origin of the term, which did not appear in "Downbeat" until 1939."

My response is that while the jury may still be on where this meaning of "gig" was first coined, I believe there is less doubt about who coined and who popularized that meaning. And I admit, that coining a term and popularizing the same term are two separate things. I also realize that it is easier to document who popularized a word than who coined it.


However, if England is indeed the place of origin for "gig" used to mean "an engagement for a musician or musicians playing jazz, dance-music, etc., spec. a 'one-night stand; also the place of such a performance.", that doesn't negate the view that African American jazz musicians were the source of the word with that meaning.

There is historical documentation of performances by African American jazz musicians/singers in England just as there is historical documentation of African American religious groups such as Fisk Jubilee singers performing there.

So is this a big deal? No not really. But too often we {African Americans} don't get credit for our cultural contributions.

I'm not saying that was {is}your intent, Q, but some people might take your comment to mean that.

Peace,

Azizi

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 11:06 PM

Just to befuddle things - a usage I thought I observed some years back was that a "gig" could be almost anything that required a person to conform to a schedule. i.e. a business (or social) obligation that required being somewhere at a set time.

It may have been just a local variant...

John

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 11:15 PM

Azizi- Documentation of earlier use in U. S. is needed before the English origin can be negated.
I don't think the term is worthy of being called a 'cultural contribution,' so I can't see that the origin of this term has any bearing on the obvious importance of African-Americans in the development of modern popular music.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 11:32 PM

Q, I stand by my last comment.

And sit by it too.

Subject: RE: What is a 'gig'?
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Jan 06 - 11:37 PM

However, I should clarify that by "cultural contributions" I was {also} referring to African American's contributions to the word/phrases coinage as well as to changes in the meanings of already coined words and phrases.