Kind of like a drunk doing something and it turns out to be astounding? I can only find stuff about putting extra effort or no effort and it was awesome. I didn’t sign the slip because I didn’t know.
EDIT: Apparently somebody thought I said “jewed up” which is derogatory in itself. I don’t know how they the G sounded like a J. And because my slip already went to corporate nothing my boss can do about it.
From the New Oxford American Dictionary:
gin up
(gin something up, gin up something) US English generate or increase something, especially by dubious or dishonest means: the trade press has ginned up a controversy | critics say the program is just a way for big drug companies to gin up demand for their psychiatric drugs.
origin: Middle English (in the sense ‘a tool or device, a trick’): from Old French engin (see engine).
So it’s not an offensive slur (nor a reference to drunkenness), but it is an accusation of dishonesty that people would reasonably take offense at.
I’ve always heard it used as “conjuring something out of nothing.”
So, it’s usually more associated with shit stirring than it is being resourceful or something.
https://grammarist.com/idiom/gin-something-up/
I hear it occasionally. Seems to have a meaning comparable to:
Basically, “to construct something in an improvised manner”. As opposed to careful, calculated, methodical planning and meticulous craftsmanship.
I have literally never heard this in my life. What part of the world are we talking about?
Midwest/Great Lakes, US. I don’t think it originated here, though. I’ve heard it often enough to recognize it, but it’s not common.
I had to go check, because I’ve heard a YouTuber use “gin up” a lot and they’re not the sort to use slurs.
At time of writing Wiktionary’s entry on “gin up” doesn’t list it as a slur either, so I’m inclined to believe it isn’t one.
What I think your employers / colleagues may have heard, or confused it with is “gip” / “gyp” (also soft ‘g’), which is an abbreviation of “gypsy” and is generally used to mean “pain” or “a cause to complain”, hence being a slur for travelling folk.
It’s such a weak, ridiculous slur that many people don’t even know its etymology and use it by imitation. It was very common on British TV up to the '90s, for example, and older British folk may still occasionally use it.
In the US, “gyp” is a verb which means to commit fraud against someone (as in, “I got gypped” if you bought something that turned out to be worthless). Similarly, almost no one knows the etymology or realizes that it’s racist.
This is probably anecdotal / subjective on my part, so take this under advisement, but I feel like that usage is more clearly a slur.
The bit about not knowing the etymology for the “cause to complain” version was me at one point, and I think I might have guessed the origin of the given verb without necessarily connecting it to the noun, despite the similarity.
FWIW, in my dialect there’s also a verb “to gip”, hard g, which is imitative (and so nothing to do with slurs) and means “to dry retch or feel one might be about to”, which is almost never used in the past tense. Hearing it in the past tense, even with a soft g, would make me question everything, which may be another reason why I feel this way.
It’s not clear that it’s a slur because few Americans know that gyp is short for gypsy.
Time to file a harassment claim against the other person for creating undue stress on your part because they chose to hear you wrong lol.
If I saw it on reddit i would not have asked here, I did a google search too.
Isn’t it a reference to making moonshine? That’s how I grew up understanding it.
No, it’s from Middle English “engin”, which at the time meant a device or trick.
Hey yea let me go ask my boss if he can show me the slip he turned in to corporate so I can put them on blast just for you.
Sounds like you work for a little bitch company, writing people up for something so simple.
