I heard this twice in the past fortnight. Once in an interview with Peter O’Toole, saying how much he liked betting on the “g.g.s” I also have a recording of the 1920s song “Horses, Horses, Horses,” one of whose lines goes, “Took a look at a big g.g., that was the end of me.”
I don’t even know if it’s “g.g.” or “gee-gee”—anyone ever heard of this?
Gee-gee is correct. This derives from ‘gee-up’, an expression used to urge a horse forward when one is riding same.
Thanks, doc—but aren’t the g’s in “gee-gee” and “gee-up” pronounced differently, one hard and one soft? Not that it matters in slang, I guess . . .
Agree with the Doc. I think it’s mainly a British usage, especially used by (or in talking to) small children. I’ve seen it written as “gee-gee”.
I seem to remember hearing of an alcoholic drink called a “G.G.” or a “horse’s neck” that was made with brandy and ginger wine. Not sure if that’s related, but it seems suspiciously close.
Well, another line from “Horses, Horses, Horses” (which has been galloping through my mind all goddam day) is, “We know that horses love, by heck—because we saw the horse’s neck!”
Eve, both ‘gees’ are soft (gee-gee, gee-up) unless there are any transatlantic differences of which I am unaware.
I HMS Penafore, the Major General song. The MG is trying to think up a rhyme for some word, and winds up saying something to the effect of,“the best MG to ever sit a Gee”. He then tells the pirates (and audience), that that means to ride a horse. I’ve never heard it in any other context. I too have always wondered where it came from.
The quote from “Pirates of Penzance” (not “HMS Pinafore”) is, “You’ll say a better Major General has never sat a gee.” This certainly would make sense if “gee” meant horse (and it is a soft g). Another interesting possible connection is with the (southeastern mountain (and maybe elsewhere) traditional mule/horse plowing commands of “gee” and “haw” for left and right (or is it vise versa?)
“Gee” is right, and “Haw” is left. I’ve never heard of anyone who actually works with horses using “gee” or variants thereof for “forward”, though I’ve heard non-horse-folks repeat that often enough. Either it’s a regionalism that doesn’t include any region I’m familiar with, or folks are conflating “gee” (go right) with “Giddyup” (forward).
I’ve heard people–horse folks–pronounce “giddyup” so that it’s indistinguishable from a hard-G “gee-up.” In fact I would have supposed that that’s what “gee-up” was. Not so, really?
Huh, and here I thought Eve was back.:smack:
Carry on, or carrion if you’re a zombie.
Well since it seems to be alive and kicking…
I heard “gee gee” all the time when I was a sprog.
We always pronounced it with a soft G
Giddyup we always used a hard G
Does it really confuse a horse when you say “YEEEHAW!” or do they understand the subtleties between GEE and YEE? 
As long as we’re flogging a dead horse, the Major-General rhymes “strategy” with “sat a gee” as above, and the part about explaining what he meant is a traditional piece of unscripted business not in Gilbert’s original script.
Horses (and most animals) recognize the tone of voice as much as the sounds. Gee and Haw are quite different sounds, so horses readily distinguish them.
But “YEEEHAW!” is said in a quite different tone of voice – it’s usually an exclamation or yell. Not at all the ‘command tone’ that most horses are trained to. Most horses would just ignore it completely, because they wouldn’t recognize it as a command.
You all should know that “gee-gee” is a standard Chinese (Mandarin) kiddie term for penis. Like “wee-wee” or “wiener”.
I learned about the “GGs” and the TAB from the great Australian soap opera Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H)
Of course the prison bookies Margo and Faye give much better odds 
Nice. 
According to the wiki on the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, a “Gee-gee” is the first horse out of a starting gate in horse racing. Note that there isn’t a cite for this claim. The team names were originally their colours; Garnet and Grey, but that was changed to unify the name in English and French, since the school is officially bilingual.