Jin around

Posted by ESC on August 27, 2008 at 10:14

In Reply to: Jin around posted by Jean on August 27, 2008 at 08:08:

: What is the origin of the phrase "jin around" mean? I'm not sure how jin is spelled- it may be jen, gen, jin, gin. My mother-in-law is in her sixties and uses this phrase when she means to putter around or to work at a leisurely pace.

Gin, jin or jim around -- to move about, fiddle about; to do odd jobs: hence ginner errand boy. The main entry says it's probably related to the cotton gin. "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II, D-H, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England).