What is Gib?
1.
"Gib" n. is a Newfoundland expression derived from thew nfld word for fish guts 'Gib'.
gib n phonetics unavailable. The gills and entrails of a herring: PIP1 (P 245-75).
They caught a lot of herring in that time. They used to save the gibs, that's the inside of the herring, for fertiliser to put on their fields for their hay.
gib n SND gip n2 2 'herring guts' (1914-).
My mom from fogo island would say don't ride your bike on the free way you'll get in an accident "get all gibbled -up".
Or she would say "don't make faces and fun because the wind might change and you end up a gib."
Which i always took to mean "cripple" or "retarded", Or in todays Venacular of 2004 , 'the physically and mentally challenged'.
Mom might even say if i was acting foolish "don't be a gib!
Nfld. owes much of its oral tradition to the Irish as well.
I'd be interested in hearing a celtic interpretation .
gib v SND gip v 'to gut...herring' gilping 1788-; PRATT gib v 'to clean fish' (1901-).
gib v also gip phonetics unavailable. Cp OED ~ v2 'to disembowel (fish') (1883, 1893); gip (1603-); Fisheries of US (1887), p. 433; DINNEEN giobaim 'I prick, peck, pluck, pull, tear.' To remove the gills and entrails of a herring; SPLIT v.
1862 LIND MS Diary 18 June Very small attendance at Singing this evening as nearly all are gipping or packing herrings. 1863 HIND ii, 233 After a 'deck' of mackerel is obtained, all hands prepare to put them in salt. The operations of 'passing up,' 'splitting,' and 'gibbing,' are gone through, and they are packed in salt in the barrels. P 148-61 Gibbing: taking the gill out of the herring. T 185-65 First I was workin' in Matthews' factory, gibbin herring and packin' herring.
