Etymology -- the gig

Which digital storage unit is a unit of musician employment?

Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.

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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.

Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)

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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.

Thanks for correcting me.

x-sebtrois-@hotmail.com

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Finally... one I got!

x-trexintar-@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.

But it's not a musical performance.

x-danab5322-@gmail.com

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I've always thought that the origin of "gig" had to be "gigue" the dance.

x-vsv818-@comcast.net

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Well, I thought it was "octet" but of course that term is only used in French (for byte).

x- flandria-@sympatico.ca

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actually, UNION works about as well-

x-nwieselq@-gmail.com

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...and, moreover, as any working musician will tell you, most gigs do indeed byte.

x-jacko-@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.

x-wiml@-hhhh.org

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I think "gigue", the dance, led to "jig" the dance.

x-smeep-@sasktel.net

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