Re: New to Gaffa

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (chris williams)]

In article <2gd5dc$nfs@chnews.intel.com> the other Andy writes:
>
>Oh no!!!  He asked what "Gaffa" means!!!  
>
>As a newcomer, the first thing you need to know is that you _never_ ask what
>Gaffa means--it always starts a flamewar.  It's like saying "Niagra Falls" in
>a Three Stooges film ["Niagra Falls!  Slooowwwllllyyy I turn, step by step,
>inch by inch, . . ..].  Watch and see.  ;-)


    Oh, c'mon. We haven't had a "gaffa" flamewar *all year*!


   In order to avoid answering long questions, Kate has a habit of
creating short, simple answers. The simple answer to the "what
does 'gaffa' mean" question is, "gaffer's tape." The long answer is,
the words "gaffa" is a Kate-invented *plural* of the word "gaffe."
One gaffe, many gaffa. The English word "gaff" is a wonderful word;
the OED lists a dozen definitions. Most are various types of hooks,
fishing, cock-fighting, and most importantly the hook that was used
in vaudeville to drag failing performers off the stage. The British
slang term (still in use, see _The Crying Game_) "blowing the gaff"
means to let the secret out.
   The gaff is also the part of the carnival midway where all the games
of chance are located.
   It's a wonderfully complex word, and a joke and pun in several different
ways, so the insistance of several gaffans that Kate's simple explaination
is the one true and only one seems a bit silly.
   Someone else posted an interesting theory that "gaffa" was a pun
on "Quaffa" (sp?) a city holy to Islam.


                          Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)