It’s easy to picture the situation: a politician who has been an outspoken supporter of Communist China (insisting their government is entirely benign and all that military hardware is just for show)—you know the sort of person I mean.
Strange as it may seem, there are such people about.
Well, picture such a person, and then imagine that he (it’s sure to be a ‘he’) is discovered to have been on the Chinese payroll—put on the ‘board’ of some operation here in Australia which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party, hence receiving large amounts in the form of ‘board fees’ or what-have-you.
So, when this connection is discovered, what do we say?
How about saying: ‘The jig is up!’
(I used this expression to my wife, and she insisted she had never heard it before—but I suspect many have.)
When the game is up, when someone has been found out, it is not all that surprising if someone exclaims: ‘He thought he’d get away with it, but the jig is up.’
That’s how we use the expression, isn’t it?
But where does that come from?
And what is a jig?
(Is it a gadget I can buy from Temu?)
We’ve been saying ‘the jig is up’ since 1800.
(Although there’s a variation—‘the jig is over’—even earlier, from 1777.)
A ‘jig’ here is a game, in the sense of being a trick or a cheat.
But before it was this sort of game, a ‘jig’ was a dance.
I suppose the shift came from the notion that the trickster, or cheater, was ‘dancing’ around his victim.
The dancing sort of ‘jig’ takes us back to around 1560.
We’d like to imagine it starting as an Irish word, but no—it’s French.
The French source word meant ‘to leap and frolic about’—and it, in turn, seems to come from an Old French name for a kind of stringed instrument (a rustic fiddle).
Clearly this played the music for the folk to ‘jig’ to—and, yes, it was adopted by the Irish (but only in from the 1680s).
So the sort of ‘jig’ that can be up, started as one type of fiddle and ended as an entirely different sort of ‘fiddle’!
The latest edition of the podcast 'Words with Kel Richards' is now out (headed 27th March) -- available wherever you get you podcasts, or by scrolling further down this page.
My most recent chat with Peta Credlin is also on the web -- you can find it here: Anthony Albanese blasted over ‘Dr Seuss babble’ during Question Time | Sky News Australia
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The March-April issue of Australian Geographic is out now (with the curlew on the cover) -- inside are my two small columns on 'Placenames' and 'Ozwords'.
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
I have just taken part in Jenny Wheeler's podcast "The Joys of Binge Reading." You can listen to the conversation here:
https://thejoysofbingereading.com/kel-richards-country-house-mysteries/
I have signed the anti-Semitism pledge, and I encourage you to do the same. You can sign the letter here: www.saynotoantisemitism.org
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
BOOKS:
* My latest book is -- "Defending the Gospel" (second, fully revised, edition). You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
