Back in a Jiff?

[smudge]

I know what it means - but what the hell is a jiff?

[Jenny Tools]

Have you had a very quite weekend Smudge ;-)

[smudge]

You must be joking - my feet haven't touched the ground with all the Christmas shopping escapades & I'm cream crackered already!

 

No, I've had trouble sleeping lately & all these little nonsenses spring to mind in the early hours. :(

[Quizmonster]

'Jiffy' and the shortened version 'jiff' have been around since the 18th century, meaning a short period of time. The origin is uncertain, though it certainly started out as a slang usage and was spelt jeffy or jiffey as well. 

[bernardo]

I once read that a jiffy is the time it takes light to travel one centimetre, although this has not been corroborated by further discovery of sources.

[smudge]

Nice one bernardo!

[Bangkok]

Take your pick:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=th&lr=&oi=defmore&q=define:jiffy

 

The only agreement is that it is a short time.  However, there is little point using it as an accurate measure because no seems to agree how long it is!

[Quizmonster]

Given that 'jiffy' and 'jiff' have been used to mean a short period of time for over 200 years, any explanation involving Hertz, computer-clocks, nanoseconds etc is clearly a johnny-come-lately hijack!

[smudge]

Bangkok - Thank you for that bit of research. Nice to see that the saying still has its place in today's 'technical' world too.

[smudge]

Bangkok - Thank you for looking into that for me, although I was rather hoping for the 'earlier' origin of it. Nice to know it's still being used in the field of technology though. 

[smudge]

AB Ed - could you please get the Tech's to sort out the answering problems. I typed the first reply & pressed post, nothing happened. I replied again, pressed post & they both appeared at the same time - weird!