Quizzes & Puzzles36 mins ago
"Well I'll be Jiggered!"
18 Answers
Does this phrase/saying have racist origins from the 1800's deep south of the usa?
Me and a friend was having an in depth conversation about racist terms and we came to "Jigs" which is an offensive nickname for the racist "N" word and the we talked about the phrase/saying "Well I'll be jiggered!" and wondered if this has stemmed from it?
If it doesn't where has this phrase/saying came from and what is it's true origins?
Me and a friend was having an in depth conversation about racist terms and we came to "Jigs" which is an offensive nickname for the racist "N" word and the we talked about the phrase/saying "Well I'll be jiggered!" and wondered if this has stemmed from it?
If it doesn't where has this phrase/saying came from and what is it's true origins?
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by Gretnagersh. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Jno but surely diaries or journals would speak of things that the writer could remember or maybe things that their grandparents used to say?
Where would be a good place to look, old library records maybe? Someone has to know, or are there many phrases and sayings that have no recorded origin?
Is there a book you can recommend that has phrases and sayings without origins so that I can leaf through it and maybe try and put the pieces back together myself?
Where would be a good place to look, old library records maybe? Someone has to know, or are there many phrases and sayings that have no recorded origin?
Is there a book you can recommend that has phrases and sayings without origins so that I can leaf through it and maybe try and put the pieces back together myself?
Look here I can't c&p the paragraph in fear of causing offence but look at the letter "J" section
http:// en.wiki pedia.o .../Lis t_of_et hnic_sl urs
http://
the full version of the Oxford dictionary lists the earliest known uses of words, as prvided by readers of everything over the last century. They occasionally have TV programmes in which they ask for viewers' help in tracing words whose history they don't know.
It quotes an 1837 mention of jiggered (it also appears in Great Expectations) but says its origin is disputed. if you do come across an earlier mention, let them know and they'll include it.
But as I say, my own guess is that was spoken long before it was written, because people are more likely (in my view) to use euphemisms of this sort when speaking than when writing.
It quotes an 1837 mention of jiggered (it also appears in Great Expectations) but says its origin is disputed. if you do come across an earlier mention, let them know and they'll include it.
But as I say, my own guess is that was spoken long before it was written, because people are more likely (in my view) to use euphemisms of this sort when speaking than when writing.
The coarse American slang word you refer to in the question is nowhere recorded prior to the 1920s, though a slightly different variant dates back to twenty years earlier. As already pointed out above, 'jiggered' had already been in use in Britain eighty years earlier, so it seems perfectly plain that there is no connection such as you suggest between the words.