Thursday, April 21, 2005

What's a Gig?

Today, for no particular reason, I wondered why people use the word gig instead of job in the entertainment industry. A Google took me to a page with some interesting word origins which I have now linked to on my sidebar. The explanation of where the term gig came from is pretty long so I'll just leave you with the link.

6 comments:

tomawesome said...

engagement, right? I always thought it was pretty simple. I'll check out your word origins link as I have a thing for words...
ciao!

OldHorsetailSnake said...

A gig is what you catch frogs with in the nighttime, if you're into frog legs.

John Norton said...

I gotta say, "gig" sounds way cooler than "job" when used in the entertainment industry. I mean, it sounds way cooler to call a soft guitar case a "gig bag" Then a "job bag."

sleepybomb said...

i always thought it was weird to say, 'the gig is up!', as in the robbers getting caught. i grew up with a family of giggers and believed that meant time to pack up the gear and go to the next bar.

Donna said...

Guilty as charged. I use that word a lot. What a great site! I love finding out the history of words and expressions.

Laurie said...

Tomawsome - Gig being short for engagement actually makes more sense to me than the stuff on the Word Origins website.

Old Horsetail - mmmmm, frog legs. Tastes like chicken.

John - Way cooler.

Sleepybomb - I think they say the "jig" is up. Now I have to look THAT up. I read about your family of giggers. Fascinating.

Donna - Me,too. We're such nerds. :)