[SR] 2000.01.26 - Gips (CD) [Single]

[Ringo~Bingo]

Well that's good, I always thought there was a first press but never saw anything about it (only zero press that you mention) lovely!

[Maou]

Why Gips and not Gibs? It is gi-bu-su and not gi-pu-su.

[Glathannus]

That's what it says on the disc in official Romaji. Not that we should take all official Romaji totally seriously, or anything...

[Maou]

She spells her name wrong all the time so I don't care how she romanizes it. I'm looking for some kind or Japanese rule that I'm unaware of.

[ShinjiPG]

The truth is, both mean the same thing: plaster cast (gypsum). "Gips" is the german word for "Gypsum", while "Gibs (ギブス)" is just a japanese pronounciation/writing error of that same word. At least it's what it says on the japanese wikipedia here. So while it would be more correct to romanize Ringo's possibly intentional use of that error as "Gibs", the fact is... it's still an error.

As another source, there's a Shiota Akihito movie called "Gips (ギプス)" and the story revolves around a woman with her leg in plaster. So it seems that really is the most correct spelling (gi-pu-su).

[frecklegirl]

Both words, ギブス (Gibusu) and ギプス (Gipusu) are Japanizations of the German word Gips, meaning gypsum or cast.

According to this, sometimes gipusu means a plaster cast, while gibusu refers to a plastic brace.

So I think both Japanese words came from the same German word, and maybe at one point in time on Japanese person did it one way, and one did it another way, and they didn't compare notes until after the separate words had developed and gained their own meaning. So Shinji is right and "gibusu" is an error and it should be "gipusu."

So whichever it is in Japanese, it always comes back to Gips.

About the song title's meaning, Japanese wikipedia has this to say:

タイトルの「ギブス」は整形外科で用いる石膏の「ギブス」（正しくは「ギプス」）とは関係は無い。

Which basically says the title "Gibusu" does not refer to a gypsum plaster cast (and also says that "Gibusu" is wrong and the correct version is "Gipusu"). Okay, I don't have a problem with that interpretation, but uhhh, is there a source behind that?? If it doesn't mean that, what DOES it mean?

I think I will skim the Japanese wiki article on the song "Gips" and see if it offers any explanation, because while I want to believe what it says, when there's no source, it's kinda like... uhhh, well there IS no other meaning, soooo...

Hm... on the Japanese wiki page that lists all the possible meanings of ギブス, it says it can also be someone's name in Japanese (i.e., Gibbs).

So... maybe Ringo was referring to a PERSON with the song title. Someone whose name was Gibbs. Who could that be? Any thoughts?

Searching "ギブス Gibbs," I found the scientist J.W. Gibbs (and a soccer player named Kieran Gibbs but I don't think Ringo meant him). Some of the things named after him: Gibbs free energy, Gibbs entropy, Gibbs inequality, Gibbs paradox, Gibbs-Helmholtz equation, Gibbs algorithm, Gibbs distribution, Gibbs state, Gibbs sampling, Gibbs-Marangoni effect, Gibbs-Duhem relation, Gibbs phenomenon, Gibbs-Donnan effect

Of those, at least "Gibbs sampling" and "Gibbs phenomenon" I found Japanese pages for, so they are known in Japanese. Was Ringo referring to one of these?

You know, if she was referring to J.W. Gibbs and/or one of his theories, it could make her line "i 罠 B wiθ U," which is kind of mathematical-formula looking, make a lot more sense. I am trying to find one of his theories that may somehow be interpreted as pertaining to romantic stuff, and then that would explain why the song was titled that.

Ok this is blowing my mind. For years I've seen it romanized some places as "Gibbs" (in fact that was the tag the original mp3 of the song I downloaded had it as) but I always thought those people were misspelling "Gibs." aaahhhh and maybe they were right all along!

[frecklegirl]

Hmm, well, (I know I am double-posting here and breaking my own rule... but I've edited my post above a million times already) I just checked Kronekodow English and they went with "Gips."

So much for my "Gibbs" theory. But then that also doesn't explain how it can be "Gips," and yet NOT mean "plaster cast." Grrrrrrrrr!!!

Maybe, she just meant gypsum? The mineral/material?

[Maou]

Just take like I do: they are wrong. One way or another. I don't think SR would mess up something so simple if she really meant "Gips" as the title.

[frecklegirl]

She is indeed very deliberate. Even if ギブス is "wrong," she probably chose it on purpose that way for some reason. What do you think she meant, then?

[Maou]

I think she meant the song title to be "Gibusu" and not romanized as a lone word.