Klarinet Archive - Posting 000990.txt from 2002/06

From: Mark Gustavson <mgustav@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Gig
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 11:50:49 -0400

Here is what I found and more so:

'Jazz' probably comes from a Creole or perhaps African word, but exact
connections have not been proven. What ever,
the presumed sexual origin [the word jazz was originaly a word used
for 'copulation'] is quite in accord with the development of many other
related words, most notably:

'boogie-woogie'
--Used in the nineteenth century by blacks in the American South to
refer to secondary syphilis.

'gig'
--The musician's engagement probably derives immediately from the
'gig' that is a dance or party, but 'gig' and 'gigi'
(or 'giggy') also are old slang terms for the vulva; the first has
been dated to the seventeenth century.

'jelly roll'
--Black slang from the nineteenth century for the vulva, with various
related meanings, i.e. sexual intercourse, a loving
woman, a man obsessed with finding same. "'What yo' want?' she asked
softly. 'Jelly roll?'" (Thomas Wolfe, 'Look
Homeward Angel,' 1929). The term probably derives from 'jelly,'
meaning semen: "Give her cold jelly to take up her
belly, And once a day swinge her again" (John Fletcher, 'The Beggar's
Bush,' 1622). Related expressions include 'jelly
bag,' referring both to the scrotum and the female genitals; 'jerk
[one's] jelly,' to masturbate; and 'jelly,' a
good-looking woman. 'Jelly Roll' appears in many blues songs, such as
"I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None o' My Jelly
Roll," "Nobody in Town Can Bake a Jelly Roll Like Mine," and "Jelly
Roll Blues," the last by Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe
"Jelly Roll" Morton (1885-1941).

'juke'
--The modern 'jukebox' was preceded by a 'Juke house,' which was a
brothel to Southern blacks, the basic term coming
from a Gullah word meaning disorderly or wicked.

William Wright wrote:

> What is the derivation of the word "gig"? Is it really correct to lump
> performances of all sorts --- orchestra, dance band, rock-and-roll,
> parade, recital, etc --- under the single name of "gig"?
>
>

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