gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
Please: I´m from Brazil and I am an English teacher. While checking the lyrics of America`s song "Tin Man", there´s a line that says "people share the gift of gab" - what does gift of gab mean? Can you help me? thanks
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Re: meaning of expression
Roz, the "gift of gab" refers to the ability to communicate well by the spoken word. Oratory prowess. Sales people usually have the gift. I think the more important question is "what the heck does the rest of the song mean?"
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Re: meaning of expression
In British English, the usual form of the idiom is "the gift of the gab".
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Signature: -- Looking up a word? Try OneLook's metadictionary (--> definitions) and reverse dictionary (--> terms based on your definitions)8-- Contribute favourite diary entries, quotations and more here8 -- Find new postings easily with Active Topics8-- Want to research a word? Get essential tips from experienced researcher Ken Greenwald
Re: meaning of expression
Erik,
This 'gab' of which you speak, could you tell me something of its origin?
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
This 'gab' of which you speak, could you tell me something of its origin?
Signature: Che Baraka
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
The Online Etymology Dictionary gives this account:
c.1200, via Scottish and northern England dialect, from O.N. gabba "to mock," or O.Fr. gabber "mock, boast," both probably ultimately imitative. Gabby first attested 1719; gabfest "session of conversation" is 1897 Amer. Eng. slang. Gift of the gab "talent for speaking" is from 1681.
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
c.1200, via Scottish and northern England dialect, from O.N. gabba "to mock," or O.Fr. gabber "mock, boast," both probably ultimately imitative. Gabby first attested 1719; gabfest "session of conversation" is 1897 Amer. Eng. slang. Gift of the gab "talent for speaking" is from 1681.
Signature: -- Looking up a word? Try OneLook's metadictionary (--> definitions) and reverse dictionary (--> terms based on your definitions)8-- Contribute favourite diary entries, quotations and more here8 -- Find new postings easily with Active Topics8-- Want to research a word? Get essential tips from experienced researcher Ken Greenwald
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
Hmm. I wonder if folks who have the GIFT OF GAB have a penchant for wearing GABERDINE.
GABERDINE noun:
1) A long, coarse cloak or frock worn especially by Jews during the Middle Ages. Also called gabardine.
2) Chiefly British. A loose smock worn by laborers.
3) A sturdy, tightly woven fabric of cotton, wool, or rayon twill. Also called gaberdine.
By golly, seems like their could be a relationship. But alas [1510–20; from Middle French gauvardine, gallevardine from Spanish gabardina, perhaps a conflation of gabán (Î Ar qab! men's overgarment) and tabardina, diminutive of tabardo, tabard]
And here I thought I was on to something. (>:)
____________________
Ken G – March 20, 2008
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
GABERDINE noun:
1) A long, coarse cloak or frock worn especially by Jews during the Middle Ages. Also called gabardine.
2) Chiefly British. A loose smock worn by laborers.
3) A sturdy, tightly woven fabric of cotton, wool, or rayon twill. Also called gaberdine.
By golly, seems like their could be a relationship. But alas [1510–20; from Middle French gauvardine, gallevardine from Spanish gabardina, perhaps a conflation of gabán (Î Ar qab! men's overgarment) and tabardina, diminutive of tabardo, tabard]
And here I thought I was on to something. (>:)
____________________
Ken G – March 20, 2008
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
Well Ken, according to the song, Oz did not give the Tin Man what he did not already have. (:-)Ken Greenwald wrote:
And here I thought I was on to something. (>:)
____________________
Ken G – March 20, 2008
Signature: Che Baraka
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
.. who said I greased the Tin Man?? ..
wOZ
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
wOZ
Signature: "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
British labourers probably don't mind being considered non-u.
Catherine and I passed a warehouse called the "Parts Center" today. Near the centre of Crewe.
Another memory this brings back is of a chat with a rail-fan I met years ago - he was really into the US rail-scene, having spent quite a few years over there. When I mentioned Mallet (I pronounced it "mallay" to rhyme with "ballet") engines, he wisely let drop that the US pronunciation has shifted from that of the Frenchman who invented the articulation system involved to "mallet" as in "for knocking in tent-pegs". He also corrected my "clerestory" (cler-es-torry") to "clear-storey".
I wonder if Roger Wagner ever conducted Richard Wagner.
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Catherine and I passed a warehouse called the "Parts Center" today. Near the centre of Crewe.
Another memory this brings back is of a chat with a rail-fan I met years ago - he was really into the US rail-scene, having spent quite a few years over there. When I mentioned Mallet (I pronounced it "mallay" to rhyme with "ballet") engines, he wisely let drop that the US pronunciation has shifted from that of the Frenchman who invented the articulation system involved to "mallet" as in "for knocking in tent-pegs". He also corrected my "clerestory" (cler-es-torry") to "clear-storey".
I wonder if Roger Wagner ever conducted Richard Wagner.
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
In British English, the usual form of the idiom is "the gift of the gab".--Erik
Interesting, as in my 78 years as an erstwhile Leftpond writer I had never once heard the expr in that form
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Interesting, as in my 78 years as an erstwhile Leftpond writer I had never once heard the expr in that form
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
He's not wrong, though I had always taken it to be an Irish expression...but perhaps that was racial stereotyping. Nonetheless, "gift of the gab" it is for me.
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
I just wanted to thank you all for the answers - from the U.S, Wales and England!
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Re: gift of [the] gab (Forum ed.)
Surely gab comes from the same root, if not the word itself, as gabble.
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONS
Signature: All those years gone to waist!
Bob in Wales
Page 1 of 2. ACCESS_NEXT_PAGE