Dibs...again
Sir Arch
origins of "dibs" as in...Dibs on the M-16, but notice that no one
had come up with solid etymology. Has that changed in the intervening
three years?
One of the references was to a game supposedly called dibs. Does
anyone know what that is?
Tnks
Derek
Donna Richoux
> I have read the two previous threads (1996 & 1998) about the supposed
> origins of "dibs" as in...Dibs on the M-16, but notice that no one
> had come up with solid etymology. Has that changed in the intervening
> three years?
Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (1998) says it is a corruption of the
Standard English "division" or "divide." They say it is US use, from the
1930s on.
I don't know if that explanation was given in earlier discussions or
not.
Other words they put in that category of childish claims are: aikies,
bags, ballow, boners, chips, divvies, and shackies.
>
> One of the references was to a game supposedly called dibs. Does
> anyone know what that is?
No, sorry.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
J. W. Love
know what that is?"
It's in the OED.
Mike Page
Richoux) wrote:
>Sir Arch <such...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
[...]>
>>
>> One of the references was to a game supposedly called dibs. Does
>> anyone know what that is?
>
>No, sorry.
I think it's the same as jackstones. There are varieties of the
game but it involves throwing something up in the air, picking up
various numbers of stones (sometimes sheep's knuckle bones), and
catching the object thrown. It's quite boring.
Mike Page, BF(UU)
Let the ape escape for e-mail
Murray Arnow
FWIW, John Ciardi says this:
dibs: go dibs (in) To share (in). "I went dibs in his canoe"
(shared the use of it) all summer. (When I was a boy in
Medford, Mass., the invariable formula for claiming a share of
any goody, whether an apple core or the next use of a baseball
bat, was "I howny dibs" or "I howny next dibs." I have never
seen "howny" in writing, and can only speculate that it is
based on "I (claim to) own." Surely, however, others will
remember this boy term. [In this sense "dibs" is prob. from
"dibstones," an old child's game involving the distribution and
capture of small bones or stones used as counters. In capturing
an opponent's counters one cried "Dibs!" with the sense "I
claim." An ancient African version of this game is called
"kabuki."]
Richard Fontana
> such...@yahoo.com (Sir Arch) wrote:
> >I have read the two previous threads (1996 & 1998) about the supposed
> >origins of "dibs" as in...Dibs on the M-16, but notice that no one
> >had come up with solid etymology. Has that changed in the intervening
> >three years?
> >
> >One of the references was to a game supposedly called dibs. Does
> >anyone know what that is?
> >
>
> FWIW, John Ciardi says this:
>
> dibs: go dibs (in) To share (in). "I went dibs in his canoe"
> (shared the use of it) all summer. (When I was a boy in
> Medford, Mass.,
Whoa! I've been mispronouncing his name all these years. It's
[dZA.@n tSa:di].
Murray Arnow
I think you probably were pronouncing correctly. I've heard him say his
name and it's not as you have it.
Mike Oliver
> I think it's the same as jackstones. There are varieties of the
> game but it involves throwing something up in the air, picking up
> various numbers of stones (sometimes sheep's knuckle bones), and
> catching the object thrown. It's quite boring.
Does this have anything to do with the rhyme "F for fig, and J for jig,
and N for knucklebones, J for [something or other] and S for sack of stones"?
Laura F Spira
crouched in the playground playing jacks and fivestones. Fivestones were
solid blocks made out of some chalky substance, jacks were metal with
prongs - easier to pick up without grazing your fingers. For someone
with very poor hand-eye co-ordination, I was remarkably good at it.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)