Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 17:10:10 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Steve Huy Subject: Re: Jizz? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit OK, I have to tell the truth once again. I can't hold on to this secret much longer. The correct spelling is GISS, not JIZZ. It stands for Guessing Is Steve's System. Steve Huy Middletown, MD In a message dated 11/4/2002 2:56:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Boughton, James M." writes: >Another possibility, which I learned a long time ago, is that "GISS" got >transmogrified into "jizz" as a shorthand for "[it] just is." As in >"How do you know that the bird you just saw from 300 meters, backlit by >a bright sun, was a Lincoln's sparrow?" "Jizz." > >Jim Boughton >Chevy Chase > >-----Original Message----- >From: Sherry Peruzzi [mailto:bookworms@COMCAST.NET] >Sent: Monday, November 04, 2002 2:41 PM >To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM >Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Jizz? > > >I'm wondering if the message I posted about this yesterday got through, >since nobody's mentioned it in the discussion. In case it didn't, I'll >repost it. (If it did and everybody just ignored it, please excuse me. >:-) ) > >The archive of the Australian birding listserv has an extensive and >fully referenced article on "The Etymology of Jizz" discussing the >meaning and all the possible derivations that have been proposed for the >word. > >It says that "jizz" was in use long before the Second World War, and >there's no evidence that the expression "GISS, General Impression of >Size and Shape" it was ever used in World War II. So that's apparently a >red herring. > >It also says that jizz "was used in the early part of the century, at >least on the West Coast of Ireland, with the same meaning we now give to >it in birding and with the same meaning as that captured by the GISS >acronym." > >The Oxford English Dictionary, which is accepted as the authoritative >source for etymology, says that the origin of jizz is unknown. So nobody >really knows for sure (not even Pete Dunne ;-) ). The article sums the >four most likely possibilities up this way: > >(a) the 19th century Scottish word 'gizz' (a face); > >(b) the 18th century word 'phiz' or 'phizz' (face, expression of face); > >(c) the early 20th century West Coast of Ireland's 'jizz' (the >characteristic impression given by an animal or plant); and, perhaps > >(d) gestalt, the German word used in contemporary English-language >psychology with the meaning that the whole is different from the sum of >the parts. > >To read the complete article, go to this page: > >http://menura.cse.unsw.edu.au:1080/1995/08/msg00056.html > > >Sherry Peruzzi >Howard County > > >Walter Ellison wrote: > >> Hi All, >> >> I had a couple of further comments on this topic. Some believe "Jizz" >> comes orignally from "Gestalt" not "GISS" - Bill Oddie in his "Little >> Black Bird Book" equivocates on the linguistic origin of the word. >> >> If you have ever identified a robin flying high overhead with no sign >> of its red breast you used jizz. Most high-speed highway IDs can >> pretty much be attributed to using jizz as well. A lot of distant hawk > >> watch IDs relate to jizz. As a matter of fact there *is* a US >> published guide that relies heavily on jizz - Pete Dunne's, Clay >> Sutton's and David Sibley's "Hawks in Flight". >> >> Jizz identification is based on seeing the whole bird and knowing it >> so well that just the way it flies, its shape (wing structure, body >> form, tail length, etc), its habitat, and the subtle sounds it makes >> add up to an identification lacking true "field marks" in the >> conventional Peterson sense of the word. >> >> Jizz is useful for counting and identifying common birds, or >> identifying birds with which an observer has lots of comparative field > >> experience. It is not a good technique to use on rarities needing >> solid documentation. In a rare bird report jizz should always be >> secondary to well seen plumage characters and well described >> vocalizations. A good example of a group of birds that is often >> identified with jizz characters and give Records Committees fits is >> seabirds, especially jaegers. >> >> The jizz of a bird is part of its ineffable beauty. The slender, >> arrow-like form of a pintail is breathtaking. By all means use and >> enjoy the jizz of birds to know them, but be cautious using it to >> document good birds to others. >> >> Good Birding, >> >> Walter Ellison >> MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS >> 23460 Clarissa Road >> Chestertown, MD 21620 >> phone: 410-778-9568 >> e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net >> >> "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. >> B. White (in "Stuart Little") >> >> ====================================================================== >> = >> To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to >listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >> with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >> >======================================================================= > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================