Editor's Corner

Dear Editrix,

Have you explained where the term “shindig” came from? I was watching a movie and one of the characters talked about how they used to throw a big “shindig.”

Sincerely,

Ms. S.

Dear Ms. S,

While I use the term shindig, I can’t say I’ve ever looked into where it comes from. It sounds kind of painful, but I would classify it as a “get together.” Let’s have a look to see what Merriam-Webster says, and maybe the Online Etymology Dictionary, shall we?

M-W:

1a: a social gathering with dancing

b: a usually large or lavish party

2: shindy (a noisy quarrel, a brawl)

Hmmm. Dancing, a party, maybe a fight or two—that sounds like my kind of fun! My husband would agree with the dancing and lavish party, the fighting, not so much.

Let’s see where the word comes from.

Online Etymology Dictionary:

shindig (n.)

"a dance, a ball; rowdy party, lively gathering," 1851, U.S. colloquial, probably from earlier slang shindy "a spree, row, disturbance, merrymaking" (1821). That also was the name of an early game resembling hockey (1846); in this sense the word is perhaps from shinty (1771), the name of a Scottish game akin to hockey, for which see shinny.

shinny (n.)

also shinney, name of a hockey-like game, bandy-ball, 1670s, Scottish English, a word of obscure origin. Perhaps it is from Gaelic sinteag "a bound, a leap." OED suggests origin from shin ye "the cry used in the game." The form shinty is attested by 1771.

Okay, this all sounds too good to be true: a party, dancing, a little arguing, and a game like hockey? Woo hoo! It doesn’t get better than that. Sometimes you have to go with the flow and let your id have its day to play.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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