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Can anyone enlighten us on the origin of the second definition, "To go together, to fit in"? This appears to have sprung forth from confusion with the older term "jibe".
For years I have winced, but usually held my tongue, when I heard individuals use "jive" when I believed that they should have employed "jibe". Have I been wrong all these years? Am I just a pedantic old fuddy-duddy who needs to learn to accept the adoption of what were sloppy mistakes into acceptable speech?
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Have I been wrong all these years?One view: link. It's been around since (at least) the '40s, so I wouldn't call it recent. Am I just a pedantic old fuddy-duddy who needs to learn to accept the adoption of what were sloppy mistakes into acceptable speech?Not sure, you'll have to post more before I can tell for sure.  But seriously, that's pretty much how language changes, and there's not much folks can do about it. This is one of the reasons why we cannot today read Beowulf without special study. About all you can do is try to use the word in the way you think is proper, and ignore those whose usage you think is improper. (If you can understand them to correct them, where's the harm in their solecism?) Myself, I have stopped trying to point out to people why I think it's funny when they say, "To air is human", rather than 'To err is human", or stick a jarring t into the pronunciation of often.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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If only it just took "posts" to get rid of changes in languages like jive for jibe! I _hate_ this mistake. It makes me cringe. Please take it away and make the world a better place!
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I _hate_ this mistake. It makes me cringe. Please take it away and make the world a better place!
If you took the time to read the article I linked to, you'd see your battle has been lost. The jibe meaning of jive has already made it into the American Heritage Dictionary.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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I guess I will remain hopelessly old fashioned and cling to my jib, while the tsunami of the hoi polloi's solecisms swamps the bark of usage. I rather like the idea of being something of an eccentric in my old age, sipping on an Old Fashioned while others swill an Appletini; I will match their jive with a jibe, their entitled with a titled, etc.
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I remember reading something about this at Language Log. I believe they claimed that both jive and jibe in this meaning were corruptions of some other word. I'll dig around in there and see if I can come up with something more conclusive. It also might have been in one of the language related blogs that they provide links to in their sidebar. Click on the [+/-} next to Blogroll. Edit: Aha! Got it! The Language Log search function didn't find it but Google did. It's here, in Mark "myl" Liberman's response to the first comment by Cory Lubliner.
Last edited by Faldage; 07/03/09 02:25 AM. Reason: Further research
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Aha! Got it!Thanks for that, Faldo. That seems to be the reference that Sheidlower cited in the previously linked article. Of course, that doesn't do much in convincing those who've already made up their minds. Now, where did I set down my pisco sour?
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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while the tsunami of the hoi polloi's solecisms swamps the bark of usage. Interesting phrase! Welcome aBoard, by the way. Em--did you by any chance mean that word as in 'barque' (I ask because of it getting swamped); was it a play on words?
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