March 3, 2013

"Boehner defends Senate 'ass' jibe."

Politico front-page headline leads to: "Boehner on 'ass' comment: 'I speak English.'"

(He said the Senate needs to "get off their asses.")

ADDED: I've heard of the hand jibe.



Trying to picture the ass jibe.

AND: I do know the song is "jive," not "jibe," but I'm moved to check out the origins of the 2 words in the Oxford English Dictionary (which I can't link to).

"Jibe," originally spelled "iybe," goes back to 1573, and spelled "gibe," appears prominently in Shakespeare, in Hamlet's speech to the skull of the dead jester Yoricke: "Where be your gibes now?" It's a word "Of obscure origin: perhaps < Old French giber... as meaning to shake... ‘to handle roughly in sport’, ‘to use horseplay.’"

"Jive" is a much more recent word, going back only to 1928. It's U.S. slang, "Origin unknown." It means "Talk or conversation; spec. talk that is misleading, untrue, empty, or pretentious; hence, anything false, worthless, or unpleasant; vaguely, ‘stuff’; = jazz n. 2a."
1928   R. Fisher Walls of Jericho 301   Jive, pursuit in love or any device thereof. Usually flattery with intent to win.
It's also "Lively and uninhibited dancing to dance-music or jazz; spec. ‘jitterbugging,'" which is pretty clearly the meaning in the song.
1943   Dancing Times Dec. 117/1   The rhythm of the Jive is not an entirely new one.
1957   C. MacInnes City of Spades i. iv. 24   I'll teach you..bop steps, and jive, and all.
"Ass jive" would be a much more disparaging way to refer to Boehner's remark.

66 comments:

Big Mike said...

Not true. He speaks Washingtonian, which fuzzes everything and can be used for fertilizer at a later date. Obama also speaks Washingtonian, except more fluently than Boehner.

Tibore said...

I'm only disappointed his remark wasn't that the senate needed to get their heads out of their asses.

Anonymous said...

'jibe' and 'ass' are interesting in theis context.

While sailing down wind, if you turn the ass end of the boat through the wind, you get a very abrupt shift of the boom from one side of the boat to the other. A Jibe :)

as in:

'prepare to jibe!'

'Jibe-ho!

Methadras said...

Being Democrats, getting off their asses would be a correct assessment.

The Godfather said...

“The fact is, the House has done its work. We have this sequester because the president demanded it and because Senate Democrats have refused to act.”

If Boehner hadn't said "ass", I don't think the public would ever have seen this statement.

Methadras said...

Being Democrats, getting off their asses would be a correct assessment.

Methadras said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
coketown said...

Remember Goofus & Gallant? From Highlights? They taught children good manners and morals by showing how two different personalities reacted to the same situation.

Politico should start a feature like this.

Goofus uses words like "ass" in press conferences.

Gallant uses the private jets of high-profile donors as subterfuge to fly out of the country for salacious liaisons with under-age Dominican prostitutes.

Another fun Highlights-inspired activity would be a "What's Different?" feature, in which the reader is invited to scour the president's rhetoric vs. actions and identify all the differences.

ricpic said...

Boehner also spoke about stopping the stealing. Far more important an admission of the truth of what our darling government is.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Guards, seize him.

chickelit said...

I like the cutting of his jibe.

Chip S. said...

jibe-ass Rethuglican

Unknown said...

Excellent, Coketown.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Thems fightin' words for the state run hack media.
Watch the pro-democrat media rush in to aid poor Harry Reid, the left's master budgetless asshole.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yes, exactly coketown.

Boehner says asses

Media report:
Crisis! Big news! Shame! Outrage! Have you no decency?! The collective universal left are universally fit to be tied and demand an apology at once. This is an outrage of epic proportions!

vs.

Menendez(D) gets ass. (of the underage prostitutional variety)

Media report:
*crickets*

Chip S. said...

ADDED: I've heard of the hand jibe.

Do you mean, "Talk to the hand"?

B/c that would be a hand gibe.

Petunia said...

Isn't it hand "jive"?

Meade said...

The People: "This sequester tastes like ass"

Democrats: "It IS ass. NOW will you let us raise your taxes?"

Michael said...

Petunia: yes, of course it is "jive" and not "jibe."

Michael said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hagar said...

Harry Reid is Obama's agent in the Senate.

Michael said...

The professor has heard "hand jibe" when " hand jive" was said. As far as I know "hand jibe" is not an expression ever before uttered or written until now.

rhhardin said...

He doesn't speak English until he calls Obama a piece of shit.

chickelit said...

Is "Jive" considered Un-PC spelling?

Remember the BeeGee's Jive Talkin'?

coketown said...

Politico removed 'jibe' from the headline. It's now 'comment.' 'Jibe' was distracting, obviously. Everyone was fixating on it and not paying attention to what Politico was trying to say.

Politico does not like it when one word diverts attention from the substance of all the sentences surrounding that word.

coketown said...

We'll call it the Raging Boehner Effect: fixating on something trivial to deliberately divert attention from what the person is trying to say.

n.n said...

The Republican-controlled House presented a budget. The Democrat-controlled Senate refused to pass the budget. Obama plays kick-the-can with the budget into sequester.

It is a dysfunctional convergence.

Does anyone know why annual trillion dollar account deficits have not caused runaway inflation? In order to fund the government's operation, they have provided incentive for banks to remove private capital from the economy. Apparently, the show is as good or better than reality.

Sim said...

In my opinion, everyone in government needs to get off their ass and act.

Bender said...

John Boehner, February 8, 2012 --
"If the president does not reverse the Department’s attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must. . . . This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand."

When is Boehner going to get off his ass and do what he said he was going to do more than a year ago??

Bender said...

Speaking of getting off of his ass, when is Boehner going to limit appropriations to 2008 budget levels, like he promised to do in order to retake the House in the 2010 elections??

Bender said...

"We have this sequester because the president demanded it and because . . .

John Boehner demanded that House Republicans set aside their objections and vote for it as proof of their loyalty to him.

Let's be clear, each and every piece of shit that we are dealing with today is because Boehner either negotiated it or supported it or demanded it be passed or acquiesced it or did nothing to stop it.

Carol said...

I'm glad he said "ass" and not the total wimpout "arse."

edutcher said...

If it's an ass jibe, Hatman will want demand jibe equality.

Bender said...

Why do you think the sequester is a piece of shit?

The sequester is a deceitful fraudulent joke. There are no cuts in any serious or honest sense of the word. And even if it could be twisted into a definition of a "cut," it is still pitifully inadequate to prevent our economy from crashing down. What is needed is not a handful of billions over ten years. What is needed is for us to spend only three trillion next year. What is needed is for us to spend $500-600 billion less over a period of one year, not 20-30 years years.

gk1 said...

Since you can say "ass" on t.v, hell the Simpsons say it every other episode, I am not sure why Politco is clutching its pearls and asking for the smelling salts.

Chip S. said...

Yeah, I can totally see that happening if not for Boehner's indolence.

Bender said...

I can totally see that happening if not for Boehner's indolence

Obama cannot spend a single dime unless it is appropriated by Boehner's House.

Chip S. said...

"Boehner's House" passed a budget. That is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a budget to become law.

Otherwise, if that was enough, why did the Republicans threaten not to raise the debt ceiling w/o a sequester process in place?

Molly said...

"Jive" does not equal "jibe".

Also, watch the big beautiful women in the video and their joyful smiles. Could anyone get on tv today with these backup singer/dancers?

Synova said...

"Obama cannot spend a single dime unless it is appropriated by Boehner's House."

Since no one has stopped spending and the budgets that Boehner's house has presented have not been passed... I don't know how that can be true.

jacksonjay said...


Could anyone get on tv today with these backup singer/dancers?

Not if Michelle has anything to say about it!

David said...

So is it "jive" or "jibe?"

The sources do not agree.

I had always been secure in the notion of "jive."

Life can be so confusing.

Anyway, great song.

David said...

Johnny Otis was quite an interesting fellow. Here's a short passage from a very good Wikipedia bio.

Otis was the child of Greek immigrants Alexander J. Veliotes, a Mare Island longshoreman and grocery store owner, and his wife, the former Irene Kiskakes, a painter.[1][4]
He was the older brother of Nicholas A. Veliotes, former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan (1978–1981) and to Egypt (1984–1986).
Otis grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Berkeley, California, where his father owned and operated a neighborhood grocery store. Otis became well known for his choice to live his professional and personal life as a member of the African-American community.[5][6][7] He has written, "As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black."[8]
He was the father of musician Shuggie Otis.


Those interested in this kind of stuff should read the whole bio. Johnny lived to be 90, a practicing musician almost to the end.

Drago said...

n.n.: "Does anyone know why annual trillion dollar account deficits have not caused runaway inflation?:

Because the major drivers of inflation at this point in time (later we'll have plenty of other drivers as well) are food and energy.

And, naturally, the costs for food and energy are purposefully excluded from the core inflation estimate.

Naturally.

Recovery Summer v4.0 baby!

Recovery is just around the corner....no not that corner, the next one....maybe the next one....or the next....

Hey, we need QE eleventy!!11!

BTW, if you want to know why the economy sucks but stocks appear to be doing fine, it's the fact that we are devalueing our currently to the tune of $45B to $85B every single month.

Every. Single. Month.

Drago said...

"currency", not "currently"

Ann Althouse said...

I do know the song is "jive," btw.

Basta! said...

Jive is a word coined in the 50s to describe a dance style, of which the hand jive is a subset. It was also used as a term for black slang, and (d)evolved to mean bullshit.

Jibe is a sailing term that has come to also mean to accord or agree.

Gibe is a taunt, and would seem to be the word Politico intended. But who knows? Perhaps, given their subtle hermeneutic skills (/sarc), by spelling it "ass jibe" they are letting us know that what Boehner really meant is that the Senate as a whole is the huge ass of the government's body that is swinging wildly to one side, and thus upsetting the balance of the ship of state.

Chef Mojo said...

I'm quite content that government sit on its collective ass. The less they do, the less harm is incurred upon the Republic.

SGT Ted said...

I can almost see them clutching their pearls over at Politico just from the headline.

"The racist teabagging homophobe cousin-fucker used a BAD WORD to describe Democrats! Oh the Horror!"

God they are such pussies. Politics ain't beanbag.

SGT Ted said...

Jive Turkeys is what they are.

SGT Ted said...

Is "shucking and jiving" racist?

garage mahal said...

The sequester was a mechanism that was intended to be so unpalatable to both sides that they would have hash out some sort of deal at the end of the day. Ha! Don't ever underestimate Republicans for their tolerance for intolerable and unpopular stances.

Joe Schmoe said...

Here's my nomination for 'ass jive'.

Joe said...

Sequestration is a joke and everyone in Washington knows it, which is why nobody did shit. It ever slow slightly reduces the rate of growth and that's it. It is a miniscule drop in the bucket of the federal budget. It's pure theater.

Chef Mojo said...

Don't ever underestimate Republicans for their tolerance for intolerable and unpopular stances.

Why was it incumbent upon Republicans to give way on this? Your reasoning is the sequester was to force both sides into compromise. How do you judge which side failed?

Obviously, the side you support is faultless. Of course.

The president comes up with this brilliant plan, so it's the Republicans fault. Gotcha.

I'm not a Republican by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd rather go with the guys that at least are showing some modicum of guts in making the hard, unpopular, but necessary, calls on getting our spending down. Yeah. I know. Republicans, big spenders in the past, blah, blah, blah. Spare me.

Anonymous said...

Hand jibe, is that anything like hand job?

Chip S. said...

If offered the choice, I usually prefer the latter.

Original Mike said...

The Senate is exactly the problem.

Obama has made himself irrelevant due to his "negotiating" skills. The House has passed a budget. It's time for the Senate to, yes, get off their asses and pass one too. Then they go to reconciliation. The Democrats don't like it, but that's the..., what do you call that thing? Oh, yes; the Constitution!

chickelit said...

I think lefties have been afraid to use the word "jive" ever since the "shuck and jive" kerfluffle. But they only look ridiculous when they try to substitute "jibe."

chickelit said...

I think lefties have been afraid to use the word "jive" ever since the "shuck and jive" kerfluffle. But they only look ridiculous when they try to substitute "jibe."

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Molly, yes I noticed that too--those women are enormous! Remember how BBW Martha Wash did the vocals for that pop song in the early nineties--can hear it in my mind but can't remember the name or anything--but some model lip-synched her part for the video and she sued and won a pile of cash?

Æthelflæd said...

"Oh stewardess, I speak jive!"

Æthelflæd said...

Perhaps Boehner was intending to give friendly advice to the Senate, but forgot to specify Dominican asses.

Æthelflæd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Craig said...

Jibing or jiving is something you do on a ship with a sail called a jib.

Strelnikov said...

The full title is "Brucie and the Ass Jive."