Meaning:
Someone might complain of some ailment `giving them gyp' if it were causing
them nagging ongoing pain.
Gyp is sometimes spelled jip. `Gyp pain' or `jip pain' might be caused by an
uncomfortable but not serious ailment, usually described as `a bit of
gyp/jip'. It might also be severe and ongoing, as in `that hip replacement is
giving me gyp/jip'.
Background:
As well as the two spellings, the word gyp has two meanings. One is the
`pain' meaning given above, as used in the `giving me gyp/jip'.
The second is `to swindle or defraud'. This meaning of gyp originated in the
USA in the late 1800s. It was probably derived from Gypsy or Egyptian as a
racial slur.
To confuse matters more `gyp' is also used in the USA as the name for a
female dog, and that usage certainly does derive from Gypsy.
We are concerned here with the `pain' meaning of gyp or jip, which is pretty
much limited to the UK.
The expression `it's giving me gyp' first began to be used in the UK in the
1950s. Here's an early use from the London newspaper The Sketch, June 1954:
My sciatica has been giving me gyp.
It seems likely that this `gyp' or `jip' pain meaning was formed out of an
earlier phrase - `gyppy tummy'.
...
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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AHD5 lists gyp only as an offensive slang meaning to swindle or a swindler.
Apple's NOAD (New Oxford American Dictionary) adds `pain or discomfort' as
informal British English.
Pain seems inevitable no matter what one does or does not do. As injuries from
exercises often sound dramatic, twisted and bloated for various reasons, parents,
bend backward to protect their broods from physical harm. Sedantary living bears
terrible risks but for the short term, it gives no gyp.
