SANParks.org Forums

I hate to be the village idiot, but what does "GISS" stand for?
For all your hard work on the answers ...giving the extra information:

Sorry its a fairly well used birding term. It comes from the 2nd World War where pilots used it to ID and report enemy planes - so today we use it in a similar way. It stands for General Impression, Shape and Size.

Of course we as birders in our first impression add things like beak shape, colour etc, but GISS sums all that up.

This could be the start of a whole new thread IMAX but you have fallen for a common misconception. The expression is actually "jizz" (unfortunately used in an unpleasant sense as well) and its derivation has been the subject of almost endless debate in the UK and beyond. It was known to be used in Ireland by fishermen in the 19th century and, it is claimed, in the Western Isles of Scotland.

Etymologists have a field day with this word.

So what would jizz mean then as GISS as Imax pointed out is the acronym for General Impression Shape & Size? That is the way we use it here in SA.

As far as I know and understand from sources on the net jizz is the slang term for GISS, evolved in that way because our pronounciation of GISS. Either way is fine, I think the sources in SA just prefer to get away from using jizz because of its other definitions.

From the Birding dictionary:

"Jizz: The overall impression which a bird gives an observer, enabling an experienced birdwatcher at least to suspect its identity, even if plumage details and other diagnostic features cannot be seen. Jizz consists of a combination of colour, size, shape and movement. The word was invented by the Cheshire ornithologist T. A. Coward."

Wikipedia's comments: "The origin of the word is a mystery. The theory that the word is derived from the WWII airforce acronym GISS for "General Impression of Size and Shape (of an aircraft)" is chronologically impossible since the birding term was first recorded in 1920"

And I was also under the impression it was derived from GISS!!

You learn a little something every day!

Cheers

Niall.

Thanks Niall for a very interesting read! We officially have a "chicken or egg" scenario here... Luckily both terms sound the same, and fundamentally really have the same underlying meaning.

Whatever the origin, or which one you refer to when using the term, I think Shadowdog's question has been well and truly answered!!!

Yip, it just depends on which source you're looking at.

Thanks all for the explanation.

Personally I think I will stick with GISS

OK, just as long as you pronounce if jiz - i.e. soft g rather than hard g - otherwise you would thoroughly confuse NH birders.

Fo' sure Alf, else I will confuse SH birders too, they will wonder who this Gus guy is that i keep mentioning. But i will spell it GISS