G

---

Cute: These Money-Making Monkeys Having Jobs Picking Coconuts. Bang San is one of a dwindling handful of people who continue to use monkeys to gather coconuts. As Thai life becomes more modern, fewer people plant and maintain coconut trees, and even villagers on a tropical island are likely to buy coconut milk from the fresh market or, increasingly, in the form of UHT containers from a store. This means fewer and fewer gigs for coconut-picking monkeys, a practice that academics suspect got its start in Malaysia and Indonesia, and arrived in Thailand during the 1800s, or possibly much earlier. (Origin: Atlas Obscure)

“light, two-wheeled carriage, usually drawn by one horse” (1791), also “small boat,” 1790, perhaps imitative of bouncing. There was a Middle English ghyg “spinning top” (in whyrlegyg, mid-15c.), also “giddy girl” (early 13c., also giglet), from Old Norse geiga “turn sideways,” or Danish gig “spinning top.” Similar to words in continental Germanic for “fiddle” (such as German Geige); the connecting sense might be “rapid or whirling motion.” “job,” originally in the argot of jazz musicians, attested from 1915 but said to have been in use c. 1905; of uncertain origin. As a verb, by 1939. Among the earlier meanings of gig was “combination of numbers in betting games” (1847). Gig-economy is attested from 2009. (Origin: Etymonline )

---