Which digital storage unit is a unit
of musician employment?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics, linguistics, neologism, idiom, cant, and argot.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
the gig
The musician's term gig - which denotes a
job - first appeared in English in the early 20th century; its origin is
unknown.
The computer term gig - which
denotes 1,000,000,000 bytes (to be precise: 1,073,741,824 bytes) - was coined
by contracting the word gigabyte. The latter first appeared in
English in the late 20th century, and derives from the Greek
gigas, giant, which in Greek Mythology denoted the savage and
gigantic sons of Gaia and Uranus.
Feedback
One gigabyte is NOT 1,000,000,000 bytes Bytes are to be numbered in
binary unit. 1 Kilobyte is 2exp10 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 (10 times) = 1,024
bytes 1 Megabyte is 1,024 Kilobytes 1 gig is 1,024 Megabytes = 1,048,576
Kilobytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes, yes it is roughly 1 billion I give you that
one.
[Mootguy: Thanks for correcting
me.]
sebtrois at hotmail.com
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Finally... one I got!
trexintar at hotmail.com
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A bit is a single 0/1 value, and can also be a
job, act, or routine in performance.
[Mootguy: But it's not a musical
performance.]
danab5322 at gmail.com
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I've always thought that the origin of "gig" had to be "gigue" the
dance.
vsv818 at comcast.net
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Well, I thought it was "octet" but of course that term is only used
in French (for byte).
flandria at sympatico.ca
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actually, UNION works about as well-
nwieselq at gmail.com
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...and, moreover, as any working musician will tell you, most gigs
do indeed byte.
jacko at lycos.com
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Utter pedantry alert: the first 'g' in 'gig[abyte]' should really
be pronounced with a soft 'g', like Back to the Future's 1.21 gigawatts. I
don't know anyone who actually pronounces it that way, though. Of course a
'jig' is *also* something which often employs a musician.
wiml at hhhh.org
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I think "gigue", the dance, led to "jig" the
dance.
smeep at sasktel.net
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