Saturday, January 28, 2012

Preface To Gimme: Give It Me

According to the Wikipedia, a "gimme" in golf is "a shot that the other players agree can count automatically without actually being played." I remember once when someone requested a song for a particular theme, it seemed such an obvious choice, I said, "That's what we in the biz call a 'gimme.'" I don't know if at the time I knew the meaning of the golf term but it seems like I did. Though I didn't use it in quite the same way. Chances are my brain was repeating the phrase from a movie or a television show.

Looking for the phrase online, I am seeing it used not as "something obvious" but as "something free." So I used the word incorrectly. But the sentence felt right when I wrote it. So I think I will continue to use it in that way. & perhaps I can encourage other people to use it in that manner, which means, according to the rules of grammar, it may acquire that additional meaning in 350 years.

Start now!

By the way, I am so not "in the biz." I have never been paid to deejay nor do I imagine I ever will be. It's like a joke a friend of mine made to another Gary when that Gary (I swear it wasn't me!) said he would make a great gigolo. My friend, "Don't ever try to be a prostitute, Gary - you'll lose money on the deal."

That's how I feel about me being a professional deejay - I'd end up paying someone to do it. It would not be a 'gimme.' Not for me, anyway.

Damn it I used it correctly!

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