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"Jive" for "Jibe"

caniswalensis

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caniswalensis
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Jun 12, 2010
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The last ten years or so, I have been hearing people I know use the word "Jive" in place of "Jibe" with increasing frequency.

Has anyone else seen this, or is it just us hicks here in the mid-west U.S.A.?

I usually address it like this:

Person: "A doesn't jive with B."

Me: "So you are saying A is true?"

Person: "NO! Are you listening? A doesn't match up with B."

Me: "OH! You mean they don't JIBE. J-I-B-E When you said they don't JIVE J-I-V-E, I thought you were saying they don't lie. You see, to JIVE is to speak in an untrue manner, and to JIBE is to match."

Person: "OK, anyway...."

This method is either so obnoxious that people are not responding to it, or they do not beleive me or simply do not care. I will regularly hear the same people repeat the mistake.

Am I alone in this, or do some of you have experiences that jibe with my own? Don't give me any jive, tell me straight. :cool:

Canis
 
Sure. "jive" is easier to say than "jibe" (no stop in the middle). My WAG is that your brain turns idiomatic phrases into a single semantic unit, so that as long as the words are "close enough", you no longer parse the individual words either when saying or listening.

I'd further guess that both "jive" and "jibe" are used rarely enough that most folks would take a little longer to recognize that the use might be incorrect and you're already on to the next thought by then. Maybe "jive" is the more common word, so it's easier to substitute that for the other.

But I'm sure I could care less. Things like this come down the pipe all the time.
 
Personally, I'd've said 'gibe', rather than 'jibe'. Either way, I wouldn't've said 'jive', which is what the gentleman and the old lady speak in Airplane.
 
I prefer to come about, so as not to get hit in the head with the boom. I admit, downwind, jibing is faster.
 
What I was specifically wondering is has anyone ever heard this particular misuse before?

Jokes are funny & all, but please throw me a bone here! :D
 
caniswalensis said:
What I was specifically wondering is has anyone ever heard this particular misuse before?

Jokes are funny & all, but please throw me a bone here! :D
Click to expand...

I hear it all the time, and it's grating to me.

Years ago, I sent a snarky note to the editor of the litter box liner that serves as a daily newspaper here in my small, southeastern Ontario town about this very misuse of the phrase in their rag.
 
FreshHat said:
I hear it all the time, and it's grating to me.

Years ago, I sent a snarky note to the editor of the litter box liner that serves as a daily newspaper here in my small, southeastern Ontario town about this very misuse of the phrase in their rag.
Click to expand...

mmmm delicious bone!

thanks! :D
 
All the damn time. Have never actually heard anyone say "jibe". Read it, said it, never heard anyone else use it.
 
caniswalensis said:
What I was specifically wondering is has anyone ever heard this particular misuse before?

Jokes are funny & all, but please throw me a bone here! :D
Click to expand...

One of many cliche's that are misheard and misrepeated so often that the actual phrase has been forgotten. "For all intensive purposes" (rather than for all intents and purposes) is on the way; almost beyond recovery is the common "butt naked" (which should be "buck naked").
 
I knew someone who always said "nipped in the butt" rather than "nipped in the bud". I told her the difference in meaning but that was the way her family always said it. :rolleyes:
 
In spoken English, I suspect that jive for jibe is very common as in fact A jives with fact B, however the use of the expression seems to be on the wane so there aren't a lot of samples to base an opinion on.

I had to look it up but apparently gibe and jibe are just different spellings for the same word and any spelling is OK for any use of the word. However gybe might be restricted to the nautical meaning. I notice that my spellchecker doesn't like gybe. Maybe a British English spellchecker would have a different opinion on the matter.

And just what is the origin of the expression, gibes with, anyway?

As an aside I think I used to say "jives with" and then I got to wondering if the proper form of the expression was "gibes with'. I wasn't that curious so I didn't look it up but I think I switched to "gibes with" in my own speech. On the other hand, I'm not sure I've used the expression in the last five years.
 
korenyx said:
I knew someone who always said "nipped in the butt" rather than "nipped in the bud". I told her the difference in meaning but that was the way her family always said it. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Sure they weren't describing being gnawed in a tender location?
 
caniswalensis said:
What I was specifically wondering is has anyone ever heard this particular misuse before?

Jokes are funny & all, but please throw me a bone here! :D
Click to expand...
Not only heard it, but didn't know which was the correct usage until I read this thread.

I suspect it's just a mispronunciation due to the similarity of the two consonants. A v is just a voiced b, after all.
 
I am pretty sure that a gibe or a gybe is a taunt.

Different word from Jibe, which is to match or agree.
 
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