Explanation of "Cut of my gib (jib?)"
Stephen Eckert
gib (spelling?? pronounced 'jib')".
Does anyone out there have any idea what this
means or where it came from?
I think from context it means
"He liked the kind of person I am"
or
"He was impressed by me"
but I don' know.
Help if you can,
Stephen Eckert
Joshua Simons
but I don' know.
Help if you can,
Stephen Eckert
From The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Hendrickson:
the cut of one's jib:
The cut of a jib, or foresail, of a ship indicates her character
to a sailor and 'jib' means 'face' in sailor's slang. Thus "don't like
the cut of his jib", which probably dates to a century ago, translates
as "I'm suspicious of him; I don't like the expression on his face.
--
sim...@think.com
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Paul Burnett
SE>I've heard the expression "He liked the cut of my
SE>gib (spelling?? pronounced 'jib')".
SE>
SE>Does anyone out there have any idea what this
SE>means or where it came from?
The "jib" is the smaller of the two sails on most two-sail
sailboats. It is used to optimize the performance of the boat.
The better the "cut", or angle, of the jib, the better the boat
performs - showing the person is a good seaman.
---
. EZ 1.39 . Entered Monday, 10/26/92, 7:57 pm, San Jose, CA
David Casseres
Burnett) wrote:
>
> The "jib" is the smaller of the two sails on most two-sail
> sailboats. It is used to optimize the performance of the boat.
> The better the "cut", or angle, of the jib, the better the boat
> performs - showing the person is a good seaman.
Close, but not quite. The "cut" of a sail is its design and construction
-- the way it is cut, literally, and sewn. The cut of a vessel's jib is
something that characterizes that particular vessel, and this was
especially true in the days when all sails were made by hand and no two
jibs were exactly alike.
The cut of a jib is also a rather subtle thing to see and evaluate; only an
experienced sailor would truly appreciate it. Yet it is also an important
thing, as it may have a great effect on the vessel's performance. So to
say of someone "I like the cut of his jib" is to say "My well-informed and
perceptive opinion is that he is good stuff."
--
David Casseres
Exclaimer: Wow!
super...@gmail.com
Steve Hayes
(nothing)
That's an excellent explanation.
Why don't you add it to Wikipedia?
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Snidely
> On Tue, 6 Aug 2013 19:48:21 -0700 (PDT), super...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
> (nothing)
>
>
> That's an excellent explanation.
>
> Why don't you add it to Wikipedia?
I'm not au fait with all groups, but I'm sure in some it is okay to ask
a question in the subject line, and not to have any text in the body
(which would be repeating the question). But you knew all that, so I'm
just repeating the obvious.
For the OP's benefit, a "jib" is a type of sail (both on historical
sailing vessels and on modern sailing boats, including the America's
Cup catamarans now dancing around on San Francisco Bay). The shape of
a sail determines how it performs in various wind conditions, and the
shape is determined by scissors and thread ... the scissors cut the
pieces of the cloth to the right shape, and the thread holds the pieces
together. Jibs are not Platonic planar triangles ... they have a
3-dimensional shape, which is carefully set up to be best for specific
conditions, or else chosen to be "not too bad" in a variety of
conditions.
Liking the shape of the jib (which by metonymy or such is called the
cut of the jib) indicates that the jib is good for the conditions the
boat is sailing in. By analogy, describing a person as good can be
done by referring to that person's metaphorical jib.
And remember, as Goethe and Mendelssohn knew, a calm sea is not a good
thing when you're trying to get somewhere by sail.
/dps
--
Killing a mouse was hardly a Nobel Prize-worthy exercise, and Lawrence
went apopleptic when he learned a lousy rodent had peed away all his
precious heavy water.
_The Disappearing Spoon_, Sam Kean
micky
<haye...@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>On Tue, 6 Aug 2013 19:48:21 -0700 (PDT), super...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>(nothing)
>
>
>That's an excellent explanation.
>
>Why don't you add it to Wikipedia?
R H Draney
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.