Was gibt?

Hi guys,
I have heard this so many times in many sitcoms.
I'd like to know wut that means. I did search on this word in your archives but only words related with "what" came up.

Thanks!

Are you sure you weren't looking up "wut gives?"
"What gives?" is slang, widely used as a conversation opener, meaning the same as "what's up?" or "what's happening?" or "what's new, how is the world treating you?"

For a scholarly article with more information than you asked for, see ling.ucsc.edu/ Jorge/joseph.html (link below).

Hello, it's R. BERG, and here's the link again. What gives, indeed?

Geez, Bergie, do you actually read that stuff? I'm impressed. I read the article. I never realized that syntax could be so opaque. But I'm impressed. But tell me again why "What gives?" cannot be a calque (whatever that is) for Yiddish "Was gibt?" I'm a little slow. SS

I must be slower than you, because I didn't read the whole article. I'd read elsewhere that "What gives?" came from Yiddish, as a literal translation. Used Google to find something about it, copied the URL, slapped it in the link box, and went on my way.