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[–] 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

From the New Oxford American Dictionary:

gin up
(gin something up, gin up something) US English generate or increase something, especially by dubious or dishonest means: the trade press has ginned up a controversy | critics say the program is just a way for big drug companies to gin up demand for their psychiatric drugs.
origin: Middle English (in the sense ‘a tool or device, a trick’): from Old French engin (see engine).

So it’s not an offensive slur (nor a reference to drunkenness), but it is an accusation of dishonesty that people would reasonably take offense at.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago

    Maybe for the apostrophe abuse? It'd be "ginned" in English.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago* (3 children)

    I had to go check, because I've heard a YouTuber use "gin up" a lot and they're not the sort to use slurs.

    At time of writing Wiktionary's entry on "gin up" doesn't list it as a slur either, so I'm inclined to believe it isn't one.

    What I think your employers / colleagues may have heard, or confused it with is "gip" / "gyp" (also soft 'g'), which is an abbreviation of "gypsy" and is generally used to mean "pain" or "a cause to complain", hence being a slur for travelling folk.

    It's such a weak, ridiculous slur that many people don't even know its etymology and use it by imitation. It was very common on British TV up to the '90s, for example, and older British folk may still occasionally use it.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    In the US, "gyp" is a verb which means to commit fraud against someone (as in, "I got gypped" if you bought something that turned out to be worthless). Similarly, almost no one knows the etymology or realizes that it's racist.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    This is probably anecdotal / subjective on my part, so take this under advisement, but I feel like that usage is more clearly a slur.

    The bit about not knowing the etymology for the "cause to complain" version was me at one point, and I think I might have guessed the origin of the given verb without necessarily connecting it to the noun, despite the similarity.

    FWIW, in my dialect there's also a verb "to gip", hard g, which is imitative (and so nothing to do with slurs) and means "to dry retch or feel one might be about to", which is almost never used in the past tense. Hearing it in the past tense, even with a soft g, would make me question everything, which may be another reason why I feel this way.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    https://grammarist.com/idiom/gin-something-up/

    I hear it occasionally. Seems to have a meaning comparable to:

    • Cobble together
    • Jury rig
    • Hammer something out
    • Slap something together

    Basically, "to construct something in an improvised manner". As opposed to careful, calculated, methodical planning and meticulous craftsmanship.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    Sounds like you are call them alcoholic.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Isn't it a reference to making moonshine? That's how I grew up understanding it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Pics of the write up or gtfo

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Hey yea let me go ask my boss if he can show me the slip he turned in to corporate so I can put them on blast just for you.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    You didn’t do shit because you’re just reposting this from reddit.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Time to file a harassment claim against the other person for creating undue stress on your part because they chose to hear you wrong lol.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I don't even know how to pronounce that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)

    Perchance you slipped and meant to say G'd up?

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  • [–] 0 points 1 month ago*

    You made that up –.–

    Gin'd up. Get out o' here

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