meaning of "Jivin"

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pinkie9

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This is from a novel.
An American woman thinks back on her young days when she went out on the streets in Manhattan, New York. She was a drug user and a prostitute, too.
She describes how the Village was a wild place and how she was cool back then.
She says "Jivin', man. That's how we used to talk."

What is "Jivin, man"? Is it a kind of greeting, like "Are you enjoying?"
 

birdeen's call

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No. "To jive" originally meant to talk nonsense. Here, the verb denotes a kind of talk that is difficult to follow for those who are not familiar with it. The woman is proud of this, because she considers that kind of talk cool and colorful.

(My answer is based on this page from Urban Dictionary)
 

pinkie9

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Thank you.
Are there any other opinions?
 

Coolfootluke

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Thank you.
Are there any other opinions?
I am not a teacher.

Let's hope not. The word is "jiving", referring to a manner of speaking associated with twentieth-century American urban black culture, especially the jazz scene.
 

petit_minou

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"Jive" is a term that has evolved. "Jive" means a type of jazz music. It was later adopted into slang, used mostly by black African Americans, to mean talking/singing/rapping/casual speech with musical undertones.
 

pinkie9

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So, in this case, does "Jivin, man" mean:
1. (I'm) Jivin, man. (=I'm talking nonsense.)
2. (You're) jivin, man. (=You're talking nonsense.)
3. (Are you) jivin, man? (=Are you talking nonsense?)

Which of the above?
Or something else?
 

5jj

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So, in this case, does "Jivin, man" mean:
1. (I'm) Jivin, man. (=I'm talking nonsense.)
2. (You're) jivin, man. (=You're talking nonsense.)
3. (Are you) jivin, man? (=Are you talking nonsense?)
None of these. Look back at the second and third sentences of BC's post.
 

pinkie9

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Look back at the second and third sentences of BC's post.
Sorry. I was careless. Not "talking nonsense" here.

But something must have been omitted before "Jivin, man".
"I'm" or "You're" or "(something) is".
What is that?
 

SoothingDave

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Jiving can mean to talk nonsense, or to be giving someone a line of BS. I wouldn't recommend anyone use this term. It is outdated, like a 1970s leisure suit.
 

Coolfootluke

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Sorry. I was careless. Not "talking nonsense" here.

But something must have been omitted before "Jivin, man".
"I'm" or "You're" or "(something) is".
What is that?
I am not a teacher.

I doubt whether anybody here is qualified to say. African American Vernacular English is a creole of sorts, a different language from Standard American English with a different grammar. But there is no need for a pronoun even in Standard English. You can present a concept in a word: "Skiing, man---that's what we did all day."
 

Ouisch

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Strictly anecdotal, but when I was growing up in Detroit in the 1970s, "jivin'" (used as a verb) meant goofing around, kidding, boasting, not telling the entire truth.

For example, you're a young child and you go to a playmate's house to see his huge 150 pound vicious dog that's part wolf that he always brags about. You're disappointed to find out that the dog is just a common, ordinary, playful mutt.....Friend will defend himself, poking you in the shoulder and say "Man, I was just jivin' you."

Or Charles might brag to his friends about his prowess with women, about how he manages to seduce the finest-looking women in town with just a few words. After Charles leaves the locker room, a friend of his will tell the rest of the group: "Don't let Charles fool you, he's just jivin'. He lives with his mama and hasn't been out on a date in two years."

"Jive" as a noun referred to this type of slang.
 

pinkie9

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Thank you.
I think I understand the meaning of the word "jive".

But I still think that something (such as "I'm" or "you're" or something) is omitted before "jivin" because it's being used as a verb in this case, "Jivin, man." because verbs need subjects. For example, people can say "Coming." when then are called by someone and they want to say "I'm coming." So, "(I'm) coming."
So I'd like to know who (or what) is being jiving here, when someone says "Jivin, man."

Also, is there any chance that "jivin" here means smoking malijuana?
I see in dictionaries that the noun form of "jive" means "malijuana" as a slang, but I'm not sure about when it is used as the verb.
 

5jj

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But I still think that something (such as "I'm" or "you're" or something) is omitted before "jivin" because it's being used as a verb in this case, "Jivin, man." because verbs need subjects. For example, people can say "Coming." when then are called by someone and they want to say "I'm coming." So, "(I'm) coming."
So I'd like to know who (or what) is being jiving here, when someone says "Jivin, man."
Re-read post #11. You are unlikely to get an answer that satisfies you unless a speaker of that dialect at that time posts here.

My thought (probably wrong) is that the woman is saying jivin' is the way we used to talk = (roughly) jiving is what we called the 'dialect' we used then.
 

pinkie9

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Re-read post #11. You are unlikely to get an answer that satisfies you unless a speaker of that dialect at that time posts here.

My thought (probably wrong) is that the woman is saying jivin' is the way we used to talk = (roughly) jiving is what we called the 'dialect' we used then.

fivejedjon,
Jivin, man (not only Jivin but also man) is written italics in my first post and also in the original book. So I'm afraid your thought is not likely to be correct. Thank you anyway. :)

And I guess you mean post #10, not #11.
In Coolfootluke's example, since it means "What we did all day is skiing.", I think there is a subject (What we did all day) and is/am/are (is). At least readers can understand that.
(If you do mean #11, I did read it. I understood it, and I thought maybe there are other meanings, too.)

SoothingDave, I wouldn't use it. I just wanted to understand this part of the book perfectly. The book is actually describing 70's.
If you know that the word is outdated, like a 1970s leisure suit, I thought maybe you could explain more.

But I'll give up if no one can explain. I know that even native speakers can't explain everything. Thank you everyone again.:)
 
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birdeen's call

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Pinkie, what is it that you don't understand? The grammar or the meaning?

"Jivin'" doesn't have anything to do with marijuana here. It's just a way of talking. As for the grammar, I cannot be sure what that woman wanted "jivin'" to be. But the simplest explanation seems to be that it works like an adverb. You surely know that -ing forms can be used in adverbial phrases in English.

Looking at you, I feel so happy.

The underlined phrase works like an adverb. It would seem that "jivin'" is an adverb too in your sentence.
 

petit_minou

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Pinkie,

This word is not necessarily outdated. The word is used by different English-speaking cultures in different ways. In African American culture, it is a slang word that is used and easily understood.

"Jive turkey" is a phrase used to describe someone who thinks they are cool or interesting, but they are not. "Turkey" is used as a derogatory term with "jive".
 

Coolfootluke

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But I'll give up if no one can explain. I know that even native speakers can't explain everything. Thank you everyone again.:)
I am not a teacher.

The trouble is that there seem to be no native speakers of that language here, if indeed it is what is sometimes called "Ebonics", and more neutrally, "African American Vernacular English" (AAVE). Its conjugation of "to be", especially, is quite a lot different from that of Standard American English (SAE). Any attempt by me to answer your question would be a guess; you might as well ask me what a Turk meant in Turkish. In SAE, she might have elided "We would be" to make "We would be jivin'", denoting habitual action in the past, although "We used to jive" would be standard, indicating that she was employing some locution unknown to me. My difficulty is that habitual or continuous action is one realm of verb usage where AAVE is more complex than SAE. "We be jivin'", for example, would mean something like "We always jive."

There is an overview of AAVE on line at the University of Hawaii, if you want to learn about it.
 
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